Welcome to the Marsh & McLennan Companies annual meeting of stockholders. I will now turn the meeting over to Kate Brennan, Deputy General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer of Marsh & McLennan Companies.
Good morning and welcome to the Marsh & McLennan Companies 2020 annual meeting of stockholders. My name is Kate Brennan, and I am the Deputy General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer of the company. We're pleased to host our first virtual meeting, which allows us to be more inclusive and reach a greater number of our stockholders, given the health and safety concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. This meeting is being recorded and will be available online after the meeting. We ask you not to record the meeting. Please note that remarks made by management may include statements relating to future events or results, which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Please keep in mind that a variety of factors could cause actual results to differ materially.
In addition, remarks made today may refer to non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for additional information. We will start with the business portion of our meeting, which will be conducted by our independent Chairman, Ed Hanway. Next, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Dan Glaser, will speak about the company. Finally, we will have a question and answer period. Validated stockholders may ask questions in the designated field on the web portal. We will do our best to respond to as many questions as possible. Questions on the same topic or that are otherwise related may be grouped, summarized, and answered together. I will now turn the meeting over to our independent Chairman, Ed Hanway.
Good morning. I'm Ed Hanway, the independent Chairman of Marsh & McLennan Companies. On behalf of the company, its directors and officers, welcome and thank you for coming to our first virtual annual meeting of stockholders. We appreciate you joining us via this platform, given the health and safety concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Before turning to the agenda and introducing the company's independent directors, we recognize Elaine LaRoche, who served with distinction as a director and passed away last August. For seven years, we benefited from Elaine's wisdom and guidance, drawn from her diverse, accomplished career and her collaborative, optimistic, and dynamic nature. We miss her, and our thoughts are with her family.
I'm now proud to introduce the company's independent directors: Tony Anderson, former Vice Chair and Midwest Area Managing Partner of Ernst & Young; Oscar Fanjul, Vice Chairman of Omega Capital; Debbie Hopkins, former Chief Executive Officer of Citi Ventures and Chief Innovation Officer of Citigroup; Tamara Ingram, Global Chairman of Wunderman Thompson; Jane Lute, President and Chief Executive Officer of SICPA North America; Steve Mills, former Executive Vice President of Software and Systems of IBM; Bruce P. Nolop , former Chief Financial Officer of E-Trade Financial Corporation; Mark Oken, Chairman of Falfurrias Capital Partners; Morty Schapiro, President of Northwestern University; Lloyd Yates, former Executive Vice President of Duke Energy and President of Duke Energy's Carolinas Region; and Dave Yost, former President and Chief Executive Officer of AmerisourceBergen. Dan Glaser also joins us. In addition to being the company's President and CEO, Dan is also a member of the Board of Directors.
Bob Tucker of Deloitte & Touche is also in attendance. Deloitte & Touche is the company's independent registered public accounting firm, and Bob is available to answer questions during the Q&A session later in the program. The 2020 annual meeting of stockholders is officially called to order. After proceeding with the formal part of the meeting, we will announce the preliminary voting results. We have received affidavits confirming the distribution of the 2019 annual report, the 2020 notice of annual meeting and proxy statement, and voting instructions to stockholders of record on March 23, 2020. Representatives of Broadridge have been appointed to serve as inspectors of election for this meeting and have taken their inspector's oath. The inspectors have reported that more than 50% of the outstanding shares are present in person or by proxy, and so a quorum is present for the transaction of business.
We are meeting today to vote on the matters described in the proxy statement. Voting will take place on these matters after they are presented. The first order of business is the election of the nominees listed in the proxy statement to serve as directors with terms expiring in 2021. No other nominations were submitted to the company. The company has a majority voting standard in the case of director elections that, like today's, are uncontested. Accordingly, each nominee must receive a majority of the votes cast with respect to his or her nomination in order to be elected to the board. The second item on the agenda, commonly known as the Say On Pay proposal, enables our stockholders to approve, by non-binding vote, the compensation of our named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement.
The third item on the agenda calls for the stockholders to ratify the appointment of Deloitte & Touche as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020. The audit committee previously approved this appointment. The fourth and last item on the agenda calls for the stockholders to approve the proposed 2020 Incentive and Stock Award Plan to replace our current equity incentive plan, which will expire in 2021. The polls are open. Stockholders present who have already voted by proxy need not vote again unless they wish to change their votes. Any stockholder who has not yet voted or wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. The polls are now closed.
The preliminary tally based on the votes cast as of the start of this meeting shows the following results. The nominees for election to the board have been duly elected. The compensation of the named executive officers has been approved by advisory vote. The appointment of Deloitte & Touche as the company's independent auditors for 2020 has been ratified, and the 2020 Incentive and Stock Award Plan has been approved. The inspectors of election will provide a final certified report of the vote following the meeting. That report will become a part of the record of this meeting and is not expected to affect the outcome of the voting announced today. A summary of the outcome of the vote will be posted to the company's website, and details of the final voting results will be filed with the SEC.
The formal portion of Marsh & McLennan Companies' 2020 annual meeting is now adjourned, and it gives me great pleasure to turn things over to Dan.
Thank you, Ed. Good morning. Thank you for joining us today. I'm very proud to lead this great company and our 76,000 colleagues who have provided tireless support to our clients and one another throughout the pandemic. Before beginning my remarks, I'd like to recognize our world-class executive committee: John Doyle, CEO of Marsh; Peter Hearn, CEO of Guy Carpenter; Martine Ferland, CEO of Mercer; Scott McDonald, CEO of Oliver Wyman; Peter Beshar, General Counsel; Dominic Burke, Vice Chair; Scott Gilbert, Chief Information Officer; Laurie Ledford, Chief Human Resources Officer; and Mark McGivney, Chief Financial Officer. I'd also like to acknowledge our Board of Directors led by Ed Hanley, our independent chairman. Thank you for your governance, wisdom, and leadership. First and foremost, the COVID-19 pandemic is a human tragedy. The health and livelihood of virtually everyone is threatened, and the ultimate economic impact is unknown.
The safety and well-being of our colleagues has been our first priority. In mid-March, we committed that while we were in the thick of this crisis, our colleagues' jobs are secure. We also set up a $5 million support fund for colleagues in need. We entered this crisis in a position of strength and are focused on delivering reasonable financial performance in the short term while supporting our colleagues and positioning the firm for the mid to long term. Our clients and communities have never needed us more, and now they have a stronger organization to draw on. April marked one year since Marsh & McLennan and JLT joined forces, a combination that has been a resounding success. In 2019, we generated $16.7 billion in consolidated revenue, an increase of 11% compared with 2018, our highest annual top-line growth in 20 years.
It was also the 10th year in a row we achieved underlying growth of 3% or more. We met our capital management objectives to reduce our share count and increase our dividend by double digits. This strong performance continued into our first quarter of 2020. We delivered revenue growth of 14% and underlying revenue growth of 5%. Our strong 2019 and our excellent first quarter performance positions us well to manage through an uncertain global environment. Our current outlook for 2020 reflects economic assumptions of a sharp global economic pullback starting in the second quarter, with the global lockdown lifting in the third quarter, but recessionary conditions persisting through the year. Contemplating the impact on the top line, we moved quickly to manage our expense base and significantly cut back on discretionary expenses across the firm.
Our earnings will benefit from these actions as well as the continued contribution from JLT Synergies. For the full year, we currently expect a modest decline in underlying revenue, with the deepest declines in the second and third quarters. Based on this, we could see adjusted EPS for the year in the same range or slightly better. Given the uncertainty of the current environment, we also took several prudent steps with respect to capital management. We recently secured additional borrowing capacity in the form of a new $1 billion line of credit. We will not repurchase our shares for the remainder of the year, and while we intend to maintain our dividend, it is unlikely to grow double digits. While the environment is uncertain, some things are constant. Principally, we continue to shape the industries in which we operate.
For example, Mercer Marsh Benefits created a COVID-19 product that's supporting over 500,000 employees in Italy. We then developed similar solutions to support people in more than 30 countries. Marsh & Guy Carpenter are bringing policyholders, insurers, and the government together to develop public-private partnerships to assure a more resilient global economy. Our consulting businesses, Mercer and Oliver Wyman, are collaborating to tackle complex issues on a broad scale, from healthcare innovation to the effects of a changing climate. We're a company of ideas and ideals. Our values define who we are and shape our aspirations for the future. We strive to create a culture at our company that is respectful, collaborative, and inclusive. We are committed to earning the trust of our colleagues, clients, shareholders, and our communities. We call this living the greater good.
To that end, we have developed a set of principles to bolster our commitment to sustainable development goals. When considering proposed engagements that potentially conflict in a fundamental way with these goals, we will review the proposed project to evaluate whether the work can proceed either as proposed or with appropriate limitations in scope or content. I encourage you to read these principles, which are posted on the ESG page in the investor relations section of our website. In addition, I am proud to announce that this week we adopted the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, or TCFD. Going forward, we will publish an annual sustainability report building on our existing citizenship report. This sustainability report will be overseen by a newly appointed sustainability officer, and we will publish that report on the ESG page of our website beginning in the first quarter of 2021.
In short, we are here to make a difference for our clients and our communities. We will continue to challenge ourselves to balance delivering for today while positioning for future growth. I began my remarks by recognizing our colleagues and our board. I would like to close by thanking our clients for the opportunity to earn their trust. All of you, our investors, your support is indispensable in enabling us to seize the opportunities of the future. Thank you.
Thanks very much. I think now we will open it up to Q&A, and we'll start with a few questions that we've received so far, and as we go through, I'll let you know if any new questions come in. We received a couple of questions about whether Marsh is performing work in connection with the Carmichael Coal Project in Australia and Marsh & McLennan's overall commitment to international standards on climate change and human rights. I know you addressed some of that in your remarks just now, but would you like to comment further?
Sure. Thanks for the question. As a general matter, we do not comment on any specific clients. We recognize that certain projects have broader implications that need to be considered. As I mentioned during my remarks, we have recently developed a set of principles to bolster our commitment to sustainable development goals. These principles do not contain a bright line policy against any industry. Rather, they require us to evaluate proposed engagements that potentially conflict in a fundamental way with these goals. Again, I encourage you to read these principles, which are posted on the ESG page in the investor relations section of our website.
Terrific. Thanks, Dan. We also have a few questions relating to diversity and inclusion, so let's start there. First, we have a comment that says, "I'm voting against a few of your directors because I would like to see more female representation on your board. This is not a reflection on any individual board member performance. I strongly feel that a diverse perspective can lead you towards different decision-making. Diversity is a good thing." Dan, could you respond to that comment?
I agree, and the company agrees. I mean, diversity is a good thing. We believe that a well-functioning board should include individuals with diverse yet complementary experience, skills, and perspectives. Our directors represent a variety of backgrounds and viewpoints. Of our 13 directors, 6, which is 46%, are diverse. That said, we strive to achieve even greater diversity. The board actively pursues new director candidates with a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives. In the recruitment process, our directors and governance committee and the board seek to reflect gender, racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity in the pool of director candidates. Two directors have joined the board in the past 12 months: Tamara Ingram and Jane Lute. A total of four directors have joined since 2016, which has enhanced the board's breadth and depth of experience and diversity.
Great. Thanks, Dan. I guess maybe turning towards management. There is another question that asks, "What are you doing to accelerate diversity and inclusion in senior management?" The question notes that studies by McKinsey and others show that diverse organizations are more profitable.
Yeah. I mean, I think diverse organizations are not only more profitable, they're better. They can find better solutions for our clients. I mean, if you look at our company, our greatest resource by far is the collective talent of our people. The more diverse the experiences and perspectives of our colleagues, the more opportunity we have as a company. Diverse views and an open exchange are how we create our best ideas. We see capable people with different backgrounds and experiences who can help us enable client success, find smarter ways of doing things, and further the greater good, which is our code of conduct and really the foundation of life at Marsh & McLennan and our culture.
We have a number of programs in place both at the enterprise level and within our individual businesses to support diversity and inclusion, including Marsh's Global Diverse Leadership Development Program, our Women in Tech program, Mercer's When Women Thrive, and Oliver Wyman's Boost program. Additionally, one-third of colleagues at the managerial level and above are women, as described in our corporate citizenship report. Marsh & McLennan Companies was recently admitted to the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, which is considered the gold seal for companies around the world to publicly demonstrate their commitment to equality and advancing women in the workplace. I signed on to the U.S. chapter of the 30% Club, a campaign for greater representation of women on corporate boards and in other leadership roles.
Great. Thank you, Dan. Shifting gears, this next question relates to director compensation. The question reads, "During this time," I guess this time meaning the COVID-19 pandemic, "shouldn't the board forfeit compensation as well as any intended increase in compensation?
Okay. Thanks for the question. Our board of directors proactively made the decision not to recommend an increase in director compensation for 2020. The board reviewed director compensation earlier this year and had considered recommending an increase this month, but removed the item from the agenda entirely. Based on our outlook today, we do not believe that any pay cuts are necessary for our colleagues, executives, or directors. We have strong control over our cost base, and we have levers at our disposal to manage in the near term. We track daily cash activity so we can get early warning signs, and we can react quickly if those levers become warranted.
Great. Thank you, Dan. Sticking with compensation, we have a question that just came in, and Ed, maybe you want to handle this one. The question comes from Gerald Matthews with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. He says, "As long-term investors, we are supportive of equity incentive compensation plans that focus senior management on long-term performance. The new 2020 Incentive and Stock Award Plan sets minimum vesting schedules for equity grants at a year. While these are simply minimums in the company's current long-term compensation plan for NEOs, the vesting schedule for the grant of stock options is a four-year pro rata schedule. Given that a considerable amount of value is conveyed with the stock option compensation, can you or the comp committee chair address these relatively short vesting schedules for long-term compensation?
Sure. Gerald, thanks for the question. First of all, let me say that as a principal, we are very focused on ensuring that all of our compensation plans are aligned with shareholder interests for both the short and long term. We've structured all of our programs, including the ones you note, with flexibility, in this case with flexibility in terms of vesting periods. In practice, we have used a four-year schedule for options, a three-year schedule for equity, and that we believe aligns very, very well with shareholder interests. We do build our programs to have some flexibility.
Terrific. Thank you, Ed. Dan, maybe I'll shift to a handful of questions that have just come in, really asking about Marsh & McLennan and how will the company fare throughout the COVID-19 pandemic?
I mean, we're a very resilient firm. We've got large amounts of recurring revenue in several of our businesses. Of course, we're not immune to what occurs in the global economy. I've referred before to this as being a really unique event, really two black swans. The first black swan being the pandemic itself, an awful health crisis. Also, the global implications in terms of economic impact and the government shutdowns around the world is another unexpected event, which is a black swan. We enter the crisis relatively strong. I think we're well prepared to weather the storm. What we're expecting for the year, and it's all based upon an outlook, uncertainty is at an all-time high. We've done all kinds of financial outlooks and stress testing, etc., to make sure we're prepared for various scenarios.
Our basic outlook is that there will be a sharp economic pullback in the second quarter, that the world begins to gradually reopen during the third quarter, but that recessionary conditions persist on a global basis throughout all of 2020. On that basis, we would expect our overall revenue as a company to modestly decline for the year and that our earnings will be about like that or maybe slightly better. That is kind of where we are. If things turn out to be better than that, then our results would be better. If things turn out to be worse on a global economic basis, then our results would be worse. In any event, I expect us relative to the S&P 500 to be a good performer for the year in terms of underlying results.
Great. There is one follow-up on that, which just says, "I appreciate your comments regarding liquidity with taking out the additional line of credit and understand suspending stock buybacks. Since you normally announce dividend increases in conjunction with the annual meeting, will there be any increase in 2020?
Yeah. I mean, our intention, which I mentioned on our first quarter call, we've had several years in a row, I believe it's five years in a row, maybe even six, but let's say five, that we've had double-digit increases in our dividend. We really believe in our dividend and find that to be a very effective way to return money to shareholders consistently. What we said in our first quarter call was that we find it very unlikely that we are going to increase dividends double-digit this year. Our intention would be to maintain our dividend and possibly slightly improve it for the year. That's kind of where we are based upon our current outlook. We recognize that very much is geared toward what the overall economic global environment actually turns out to be.
Certainly, our intention is to maintain our dividend for the year.
Great. Thank you, Dan. I'm going to shift again. This relates more to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, I believe. The question is, "How does the board justify employee layoffs given the recent tax cut?
Okay. I mean, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 definitely made U.S. companies more competitive vis-à-vis foreign-based companies, including our largest competitors. Overall, that was good for Marsh & McLennan. We continue to invest in our business in the U.S. and abroad, and the tax reduction has allowed us to accelerate the investment. I mean, our overall headcount in the U.S. and globally has significantly increased since 2017.
Great. Okay. One question on the Alexander Forbes investment. The question asks whether Mercer colleagues who served on the Alexander Forbes board have been held accountable for the loss on that investment. Can you comment a bit on that investment?
Sure. Sure. In 2012, we made an initial investment in Alexander Forbes, partially with the aim to develop our relationship on a joint venture style basis and to cultivate more reach into the South African market in which Alexander Forbes was an established player. Since then, our commercial relationship with Alexander Forbes has become well established, and our presence and capabilities in Africa are stronger because of the strategic investment that we've made in Alexander Forbes. Given this, Mercer no longer believes it is as important to maintain an equity investment and have worked to monetize the investment. We remain committed to the African continent and to continuing to collaborate with Alexander Forbes to deliver market-leading employee health and benefit capabilities and investment solutions to our clients. Mercer and Alexander Forbes will continue to work together, jointly innovating and delivering solutions to our clients across Africa.
Thank you, Dan. We've got a new question coming in through the portal that asks, "What challenges are posed to MMC by the growing hostility towards globalization in significant parts of the U.S.?" Can you comment a little bit on that?
There is an ebb and flow to not only items of globalization, but relationships between countries, trade frictions, societal frictions. I mean, we're living in challenging times, to be sure. We are a multinational. We operate in more than 100 countries. We have been alive as a company for nearly 150 years. We try to think as globally as we can as an organization. It is important to note that we're not a company that relies dramatically on globalization in order to be successful. The reality of it is most business, in terms of how we work, is won and lost on a local basis. Yes, there may be some global expertise and resources based somewhere in the world to assist our local people on a complex program. Fundamentally, we've got to be strong on the ground in the countries around the world.
You go back to when I first joined this business a long time ago, and essentially, U.S. multinationals tended to be that they had offices around the world which were staffed by or led by expatriate managers. Those offices predominantly worked on other multinationals, U.S. and European predominantly multinationals. That is just not Marsh & McLennan today. The reality is our offices around the world, we have very few expats running offices. We have strong local capability with all kinds of talented people who are working on not only local business, but also regional business within their individual geographies, as well as global business themselves. The level of interconnectivity between business, I believe, will continue even if there are some supply chain differences or some national champions that develop over time.
I think the interaction and global trade is actually a benefit to broader society around the world.
Terrific. Dan, at the beginning, I said that questions on the same topic or that might otherwise be related would be grouped and summarized and answered together. On that basis, I've marked a number of the additional questions that have come through the portal as answered. I think we've covered them in your remarks so far. I think we'll end here with one comment received from a shareholder who is also a colleague who says, "I feel extremely privileged to be working for a company which cares so much about the well-being of its employees. It means a lot, especially during these hard times. Thank you all so much." Would you care to respond to that comment?
Geez, it warms my heart. I mean, I do think that in a lot of ways, the company has never been flatter, faster, or more connected than it is today. Crises can pull you apart or it can bring you together even more than you were before. I think when I consider the implications of COVID-19, our colleagues pulled together and they're doing a remarkable job. I think that everyone appreciates when the world's back was up against the wall, we stood together. There was no difference between managers and colleagues. We're all Marsh & McLennan and we're in it together.
Great. Thanks very much, Dan. There are no new questions that are active in the queue. I think that is it for the Q&A session.
Okay. Thank you, Kate. In closing, I'd just like to thank everyone for your participation in our first virtual meeting of stockholders. I'd also like to thank our team for adapting quickly to the current environment and facilitating this virtual meeting so that we could hear directly from our stockholders. Operator, this concludes today's call.
That concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. Have a pleasant day.