Welcome to Marsh & McLennan Companies' 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. My name is Carey Roberts, and I'm the company's deputy general counsel and corporate secretary. Today's meeting is being webcast, I'd like to ask everyone in the audience to please turn off your cell phones and BlackBerries so that it doesn't interfere with the broadcast, of course. Please note that the remarks today 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. A variety of factors could cause the term materially from those expressed or implied in any of those forward-looking statements. In addition, remarks today may include references to non-GAAP measures. Please refer to our SEC filings for more information about those measures. With that, I will turn the meeting over to our chairman, Lord Lang.
Thank you, Carey. Good morning. I'm Ian Lang, the independent chairman of Marsh & McLennan Companies. Welcome to all of you on behalf of the company, its directors and officers, and thank you for coming to our annual meeting of stockholders. Before we officially begin the meeting, I would like to say a word about Maria Marques on the occasion of her first meeting as a new director of Marsh & McLennan Companies. Maria is currently a special advisor to the mayor for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics. She has previously served in leadership positions in both public and private companies, and the board will surely benefit greatly from her extensive operational experience in Brazil and across Latin America, as well as her insights in managing complex organizations in growth markets. Welcome, Maria.
Before turning to today's agenda, I would like to introduce the company's other independent directors and ask each of them to rise as I mention their name. Oscar Van Hool, vice chairman of Omega Capital. Ed Hanway, former chairman and CEO of Cigna Corporation. Elaine La Roche, a senior advisor to China International Capital Corporation US. Steven Mills, executive vice president, Software and Systems of IBM. Bruce Nolop, former chief financial officer of E*TRADE Financial Corporation. Marc Oken, managing partner of Porphyry Capital Partners and former chief financial officer of Bank of America Corporation. Morton Schapiro, president of Northwestern University. Lloyd Yates, executive vice president, Market Solutions and president, Carolinas Regulated Utilities for Duke Energy. Dave Yost, former president and chief executive officer of AmerisourceBergen.
One long-familiar name is now missing from that list, I'd like to take a moment to recognize Adele Simmons, who is retiring from the board after nearly 4 decades of dedicated service. In addition to Adele's many contributions as a director, we have benefited from her leadership of the board's Corporate Responsibility Committee. Adele, we greatly appreciate your service, and we thank you for it. You've been a truly wonderful colleague, and I'm sure our shareholders wish you all the best for the future. Dan Glaser also joins me here on the stage. In addition to being the company's president and CEO, Dan is also a member of the board of directors. Ed Morrissey of Deloitte & Touche is also in attendance. Deloitte & Touche is the company's independent registered public accounting firm. Ed is available to answer questions during the Q&A session later in the program.
I hereby call the 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to order. After proceeding with the formal part of the meeting, we will announce the preliminary voting results. Dan will speak about the company, following which he will open the floor to questions. Please save any questions you might have until that time. We have received affidavits confirming the distribution of the 2014 annual report, the 2015 notice of annual meeting and proxy statement, and voting instructions to stockholders of record on March 23rd, 2015. The list of registered stockholders eligible to vote at this meeting is available for inspection by any stockholder at the sign-in table. 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 468 million shares, meaning approximately 87% of the shares issued, outstanding, and entitled to vote, were represented at the beginning of this meeting. This constitutes a majority of the outstanding shares entitled to vote, and therefore, a quorum is present for the transaction of business. We're meeting today to vote on the matters described in the 2015 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 2016. 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 a say on pay proposal, enables our stockholders to approve by non-binding vote the compensation of our named executive officers as disclosed in the 2015 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 31st, 2015. The audit committee previously approved this appointment. The polls are now open. Stockholders present who have already voted by proxy need not vote again unless they wish to change their votes. If you still have a proxy card, please give it to an inspector of election. Will the inspectors please identify themselves?
An inspector will furnish a ballot to any stockholder or stockholder representative who wishes to vote in person. Please raise your hand if you wish to vote in person and we will provide you with a ballot. The polls are now closed. Will the inspectors please collect any ballots? The preliminary tally, based on the votes cast as of the start of this meeting, shows the following results. With regard to item one, a majority of shares voted were voted in favor of each of the director nominees, and thus they have all been elected. For item two, a majority of the shares present or represented and entitled to vote have voted in favor. Thus, stockholders have approved on an advisory basis the compensation of the company's named executive officers.
Finally, for item three, a majority of the shares present or represented and entitled to vote have voted in favor. Thus, the appointment of Deloitte & Touche as the company's independent auditors for 2015 has been ratified. 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.
Before I adjourn the formal part of the annual meeting, I would like to announce that earlier this morning, the board declared a dividend of $0.31 per share on outstanding common stock payable on August 14th, 2015, to stockholders of record on July 10th, 2015. In addition, the board approved an increase in the company's share repurchase program, allowing management to repurchase up to $2 billion worth of the company's common stock. The formal part of Marsh & McLennan Companies 2015 annual meeting is now adjourned. It gives me great pleasure to turn the floor over to Dan Glaser.
Thank you, Ian. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us here today. Before I begin my remarks, I'd like to introduce the members of our senior management team. I'm going to ask them to stand as I call their names. First, our operating company CEOs, Peter Zaffino of Marsh, Alex Moczarski of Guy Carpenter, Julio Portalatin of Mercer, and Scott McDonald of Oliver Wyman. Also joining us are our Mike Bischoff, our CFO, Peter Beshar, our General Counsel, Scott Gilbert, our Chief Risk and Compliance Officer, and Laurie Ledford, our Chief HR Officer. I'd also like to recognize Adele Simmons, who as Ian noted in his remarks, is retiring from our board today. Among the many achievements of her lasting legacy, I'll cite just one. With Adele's leadership, the company established the board's Corporate Responsibility Committee in 2008 to oversee government relations, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility.
Since that time, we've made great progress in all three areas, creating our first government relations team, naming our first chief sustainability officer, and founding a CSR department, which now has volunteer resources in more than 30 countries and tracked 100,000-plus colleague volunteer hours in 2014. Adele, thank you for your valuable contributions to the success of Marsh & McLennan Companies. We wish you all the best. This is the third annual meeting at which I've had the honor of speaking with you as CEO of this great company. I'm proud to tell you about what we've achieved and why our work makes a difference. Each and every day, we bring expertise, creativity, and passion to our work as we help clients address some of the world's biggest challenges.
Organizations of all sizes, public and private, are affected by heightened cybersecurity risk, political and economic uncertainty, increased regulation, and inconsistent economic growth. We also continue to see examples of disruption and discontinuity that impact almost all businesses. In this increasingly complex and dynamic world, we believe our company is well-positioned to give advice and solutions in risk, strategy, and people, and that our advice has great relevance to clients. We're a company like no other. The quality of our colleagues, deep relationships with clients, vast global footprint, innovative thinking, and highly collaborative culture are enduring advantages. It's been that way through our more than 140-year history. We have a pioneering heritage as industry innovators and thought leaders. If history has taught us anything, it's that a constantly evolving business landscape presents opportunities as well as risks.
In this environment, the need for our trusted advice and solutions has never been stronger. Our excellent financial performance speaks to the value we deliver. Revenue in 2014 was a record $13 billion, with underlying revenue growth of 5%, our strongest increase in three years. Adjusted operating income increased 10% to $2.3 billion. That's the seventh consecutive year of double-digit growth. For each of the past five years, both of our operating segments have achieved margin expansion. Adjusted EPS rose 14% in 2014. Over the past five years, compound annual growth in adjusted EPS has been 14.5%. We provided superior value for our shareholders in 2014. Total shareholder return, including the reinvestment of dividends, was 21%, well above the return of the S&P 500 Index. One of our hallmarks has been our payment of dividends to shareholders.
In 2014, we delivered on our commitment to increase our dividend by double digits. Dividend growth was 10.4%. As Ian reported, our board today increased our quarterly dividend from $0.28 to $0.31 per share, putting us on track to deliver double-digit dividend growth in 2015. We are also committed to meaningful share repurchase and reducing our share count year after year. Since 2010, we've bought back more than 56 million shares of our common stock for $2.3 billion. In 2014, we repurchased $800 million and reduced our shares outstanding by 7 million. As Ian also reported, the board today authorized an increase in the company share repurchase program, allowing management to buy back up to $2 billion of our common stock. Our first quarter results mark a good start to 2015.
We generated underlying revenue growth across all operating companies, margin improvements in both segments, and strong growth in earnings per share. Our proposition for shareholders remains unchanged. We are a global growth company with increasing capital flexibility. We continue to invest for future growth. We have a proven leadership team known for keeping its commitments. In 2015, we expect to deliver underlying revenue growth, margin expansion in both operating segments, and high single-digit EPS growth. We remain confident in our ability to grow EPS at a 13% CAGR over the long term. Our future is bright. We're defined by deep specialization and united by a common purpose, doing meaningful work that makes a difference for our colleagues, clients, shareholders, and communities. We employ smart, hardworking people who enjoy working in a creative and collaborative environment dedicated to enabling client success.
Depth of knowledge is incredibly important. We're fortunate to have teams with significant experience and expertise. Great companies capable of achieving superior, sustained performance often derive their success from strong cultures. Our culture sets us apart. At Marsh & McLennan, we always seek the smarter way. We work side by side to harness our collective intelligence. We act with integrity in all that we do. Thank you very much for listening to me today. I'd be happy to take your questions. Please. There are microphones that
I can be pretty loud.
Okay.
If you could-
My name is Don Riachiio. I'm a former officer at Marsh. I've been retired for the last 10 years. Throughout my career, there's always been the specter Oh, okay. There was always the specter that commissions would be replaced almost entirely by fees. The feel is that fees are negotiated and therefore would suppress revenues. I was just curious as to what is the mix now at Marsh between commissions and fees, and has it gotten fees increased more or is it still pretty much what it was 10 years ago?
Thank you very much for your question. I know from 30 years in the business that discussion has continued in terms of how much is fee, how much is commission, and where will the industry go. Interestingly, over the last five years, our level of commission business as a percentage of the total within Marsh has actually risen until where now Marsh is about 60% commission and 40% fee, and six, seven years ago, it was more like 50/50. Part of that is our efforts to grow our commission book of business, but it's also our expansion in many countries, but in particular in the U.S. into more of the middle market and small commercial business, which is largely commission-related business.
Thank you.
Welcome. Please.
Hi, good morning. My name is Stuart Lyman. I'm a shareholder and former employee. I'm in marketing right now and a screenwriter. What I would like to propose, I believe strongly in my heart and on a business level, that by next year, your value could elevate 10% stock of the company if you do one of two things, please. One is diversify 5% of the company into a special marketing program in other areas. Would take me too long to explain this. Tell business people, especially in middle markets, new businesses that are coming in, what Marsh does that is different than other companies compatible to the services you provide. That or the special marketing department where you get involved, it could be renewing downtown areas of cities with mayors. I studied that, Lots of luck if you do one of those areas. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you very much for your comments and for your advice as well. I have to tell you that at no time in our history have we devoted more time and energy and actual budget toward marketing and communications. We've grown significantly in that area. Our capabilities are quite good. If you look at our corporate website as an example, very interactive. It's very interesting. It's cutting edge. Certainly differentiating us in the marketplace and making it clear the added value of the individual Marsh & McLennan Companies, both acting individually and in concert with each other is a formidable proposition, and we have to make sure that's clearly understood by our clients. I appreciate your comments. Any other questions? Hearing no questions.
If there are no further questions, I will simply say to Dan, thank you very much indeed. To thank you all, ladies and gentlemen, for attending this meeting. The meeting is now closed. Thank you.