Welcome to the 2026 annual meetings of shareholders for Lincoln Educational Services Corporation. Our host for today's call is John Bartholdson, Chairman of the Board of Directors. I will now turn the call over to your host. Mr. Bartholdson, you may begin.
Thank you. Morning, and welcome to the 2026 annual meeting of the shareholders of Lincoln Educational Services Corporation. I am John Bartholdson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lincoln Educational Services Corporation, and I'd like to officially call the meeting to order. We are conducting our annual meeting once again using a virtual format to allow for all of our shareholders to attend regardless of location. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the members of the company's Board of Directors who are in attendance remotely. Scott Shaw, Chief Executive Officer. Kevin Carney, Chairman of the Audit Committee. Dr. Michael Plater, Chairman of the Governance Committee and member of the Audit Committee. Felecia Pryor, Chairwoman of the Compensation Committee and member of the Corporate Governance Committee. Jim Burke, member of the Compensation and Corporate Governance Committees.
Anna Escobedo Cabral, member of the audit and corporate governance committees. Marta Newhart, member of the compensation and corporate governance committees. Carlton Rose, member of the audit and compensation committees, and Sylvia Young, member of the audit and compensation committees. I would also like to acknowledge the presence of William Carey, audit partner from Deloitte & Touche, the company's certified public accounting firm in charge of our account, who is also in attendance remotely. Now I'll turn the meeting over to Scott Shaw, our Chief Executive Officer.
Thank you, John. I'd like to outline the format for today's meeting. First, I'd like to begin by calling your attention to the agenda for the annual meeting, which is available on this webcast screen under Meeting Information. The business of this annual meeting will follow the order set forth in the agenda. Alexandra Luster, our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, will describe and then present for a vote each of the three proposals set forth in the proxy statement. The polls will be open for voting for anyone who wishes to vote electronically with respect to the matters presented. If you have not already voted your shares or wish to change your vote, you may do so by clicking on the Vote Here button available on this webcast screen.
The polls will remain open until all of the proposals have been presented and I declare the polls to be closed. Second, I'd like to point out that shareholders may submit questions electronically during the meeting by typing a question in the submit question box on this webcast screen. Questions received will be answered following the meeting via email to the shareholder submitting the question. Third, I will present management's report regarding operations and recent development at Lincoln Educational Services Corporation. Now I will turn the meeting over to Alexandra Luster, Lincoln's General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.
Thank you, Scott. At this time, I'd like to address several procedural formalities. Notice of the date and time of this meeting was mailed to shareholders on March 26th, 2026. An affidavit to that effect will be filed with the records of the meeting. We wish to remind everyone that only shareholders are entitled to attend the annual meeting or submit questions. As this is a virtual meeting, we would ask that only shareholders be given access to the webcast. Heather Obie of The Carideo Group Inc. has been appointed Inspector of Election for this meeting, and our Senior Vice President of Finance, David Shaw, will be reporting the preliminary results of the voting at this annual meeting, which results will be finalized by Broadridge subsequent to the meeting.
Heather Obie has signed an oath to faithfully execute the duties of Inspector of Election with strict impartiality and according to the best of her ability. We have available during the course of the annual meeting, a list of the shareholders of record of the company as of March 18th, 2026, the record date for this annual meeting, as certified by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company. The certified list may be found in the meeting documents of this webcast screen. Only shareholders on this list are entitled to vote at this annual meeting. Received from the Inspector of Election her report as to quorum. The report indicates that according to the certified shareholder list and the number of shares eligible to vote, the number of shares voted constitutes a quorum for the purpose of transacting business at this annual meeting. Accordingly, the annual meeting is legally convened.
For those who would like to vote or change their vote at this time, the polls are open. The polls will remain open until all items of business have been presented. At this time, I will now present the three proposals to be voted on at this annual meeting, all of which were described in the proxy statement furnished to the shareholders. We will now proceed with the first item of business, which is the election of directors. In accordance with the bylaws of Lincoln Educational Services Corporation, the number of directors to be elected at this meeting is 10.
The board's nominees for director for the ensuing year, or until their successors are duly elected and qualified, are listed in the proxy statement provided to all shareholders. They are John Bartholdson, James Burke, Anna Escobedo Cabral, Kevin Carney, Marta Newhart, Dr. Michael Plater, Felecia Pryor, Carlton Rose, Sylvia Young, and Scott Shaw. Biographies of the nominees were included in the proxy statement. The board slate of nominees for director is now formally placed before this annual meeting. If you have not already done so, please vote on this proposal, or if you have already voted but wish to change your vote, please do so. The next item is a proposal to provide shareholders with an advisory non-binding say on pay vote to approve the compensation of our named executive officers as disclosed in the company's proxy statement.
The advisory say on pay proposal is now formally placed before this annual meeting. If you have not already done so, please vote on this proposal, or if you have already voted but wish to change your vote, please do so. The final item is a proposal to ratify the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as Lincoln's independent registered public accounting firm for our fiscal year ending December 31th, 2026. The audit committee of the board of directors has approved the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP as independent auditors of Lincoln Educational Services Corporation for the fiscal year ending December 31th, 2026. The selection of Deloitte & Touche is now formally submitted for shareholder ratification. If you have not already done so, please vote on this proposal, or if you have already voted but wish to change your vote, please do so.
I will now turn the meeting over to our CEO, Scott Shaw.
Thank you, Alex. Now that all the proposals have been presented and shareholders have had an opportunity to vote, I declare the polls are closed. Now I will turn the annual meeting over to David Shaw, Lincoln's Senior Vice President of Finance, who will provide a preliminary report on the voting.
We will now proceed with reporting of the preliminary results based on the report the Inspector of Election delivered this morning, which shows that Proposal one, the board slate of 10 director nominees has been approved, with each director having received no fewer than 23.4 million votes in favor, or 87% of the votes cast. Proposal two, the non-binding advisory say on pay vote to approve the compensation of our named executive officers has been approved with 22.6 million votes in favor, or 95.1% of the votes cast.
Lastly, Proposal three, the ratification of the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP has been approved with 26.8 million votes in favor, or 99.3% of the votes cast. That concludes the report of preliminary votes, voting results. The final results will be reported in our 8-K to be filed in the next few days. I would like to reintroduce Scott Shaw, who will give Lincoln's management presentation with respect to the company's operations and certain recent developments.
Thank you, Dave. Next slide, please. Before I begin my remarks, I'd like to remind everyone to read the disclosure at the bottom of today's agenda that addresses any forward-looking statements that I may make during this presentation. Furthermore, a more detailed presentation of our results and plans for the future can be found on our website in the Investor Relations section. Next slide. Welcome.
In 2026, Lincoln will be celebrating our 80th year as a leading trade school offering superior hands-on education and training. All of us at Lincoln Tech could not be more proud of the impact we have made and the lives that we have changed and continue to change. Next slide. With that said, everything that we do at Lincoln Tech is for our students. Their success is our success, and we strive every day to become better at enabling more and more students to achieve their dreams and enter into exciting and rewarding careers. Next slide. 2025 was an outstanding year for Lincoln Tech. We achieved or exceeded our guidance, grew our revenue by 20%, increased our profitability by 66%, increased our starts by 15%, increased our average population by 18%. We ended the year with no debt and $29 million in cash.
We opened our second new campus in Houston, Texas, and relocated Nashville and Philadelphia into modern facilities that can offer more programs. We replicated four high in-demand programs and expanded to others. Qualitatively, we improved our outcomes, raising our placement rates 250 basis points to 82.8%. We hosted more public officials at our schools than ever before as our nation increasingly sees the value and need for skilled trades workers. We expanded our partnerships with companies in dire need of trained technicians to drive their businesses, and we strengthened our management team for future growth. Next slide. Here you can see our progress over the past five years, along with our projections for the current year.
As we continue to grow our business, we achieved great operating leverage in 2025, as demonstrated in a 300 basis points improvement in our adjusted EBITDA margin, and we expect this to continue. The momentum achieved in 2025 is carrying into 2026, and as a result, we will exceed our 2027 goals laid out three years ago. Next slide. Post the pandemic, there's been a resurgence in interest in the skilled trades as people seek careers that are rewarding both financially and personally and are resistant to being negatively impacted by advances in artificial intelligence. This Tool Belt Generation has become skeptical of schools offering four-year degrees that have left their family members and friends saddled with too much debt and dead-end jobs.
Instead, more people are turning to career schools like Lincoln Tech that offer concrete skills that are in demand at a fraction of the cost. Moreover, 95% of our students are deemed essential workers by the federal government. Next slide. We serve a broad and diverse population, with the average age of our students being 25. In 2025, 22% entered immediately upon graduating from high school, 73% were adults, and 5% were veterans. While we see growth across all 3 segments, in 2025, we made additional investments to further expand our high school and military population. Next slide. Over the years, we have narrowed our program offerings to focus on three key sectors with eight in-demand programs. Within the skilled trades, we offer electrical, HVAC, and welding. Within transportation, we offer automotive, collision, and diesel technicians.
In healthcare, we primarily offer licensed practical nursing and medical assisting. Next slide. Employers continue to reach out to us in search of trained technicians that will support their current and future needs. Thousands of companies annually hire our graduates. In addition, we are constantly expanding our roster of companies for which we provide additional specialized training. By working with these partners, we gain further insight into the skills required by today's leading companies, and our students enter employment with advanced standing and higher wages. Next slide. What truly sets us apart are our people and our product, superior education. We are driven to provide our students with relevant skills that employers want in a supportive and accessible environment that results in employment.
We build our schools with state-of-the-industry equipment and replicate the real-world working environment, so our students have the confidence and ability to succeed and an edge over the competition. Next slide. Given our reputation, longevity, and superior outcomes, our schools provide more automotive and skilled trades graduates than any other school group in the eastern half of the country, and our goal is to be the largest in the nation. Next slide. We will achieve this goal by expanding our program offerings in our existing markets while also opening new campuses in new markets. We also may make acquisitions to help accelerate this growth. Next slide.
As a result of the actions we have already taken, we forecast that by the end of 2030, we will achieve $850 million in revenue, double our adjusted EBITDA to $150 million from this year's $74 million, and almost triple our net income to $60 million. Next slide. We are fortunate to have a talented and dedicated group of leaders who average 17 years tenure with the company. Next slide. We have reconstituted our board over the past 5 years with an equally talented and dedicated group with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Our board has the same passion for education as do all Lincoln Tech employees. They are all big supporters of our mission and our positive impact that we make in each of the communities that we serve. Next slide.
In conclusion, Lincoln is ready to benefit from the opportunities in front of us. Strong demand for trained technicians appears to be growing. We have programs that are clearly in demand. We are making changes to our operations that will make us more profitable and scalable. We will utilize our strong balance sheet to foster our growth and continue to maximize shareholder value. Finally, we will continuously improve our student experience and outcomes to ensure that we maintain a strong ROI for all of our students. All of us at Lincoln Tech are excited to find more ways to help our country solve the skills gap to allow our economy to reach its potential, just as we strive to unlock the potential in each and every Lincoln Tech student. Thank you for attending, and with that, I conclude my remarks.
I declare that the 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders is concluded and hereby adjourned. Thank you all for joining us this morning.
This now concludes the meeting. Thank you for joining, and have a pleasant day.
Thank you.