Good morning, everyone. It's nice to be here today. Welcome to the Marsh & McLennan Companies 2012 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I'm Lucy Fato, the Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the company. Just want to welcome everyone here today. Before we begin, I'd like to go over a few reminders for the meeting. First, today's meeting is being webcast, so if everyone joining us in person could turn off cell phones and BlackBerrys, we'd like to minimize interference with the webcast. Second, 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. A variety of factors could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement made today.
Please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for more information. Finally, at the conclusion of today's meeting, Brian Duperreault will speak about the company, after which he will open the floor to questions. We ask that participants limit themselves to two questions. Thanks in advance for your cooperation. Now I'll turn the meeting over to our Independent Chairman, Lord Lang.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am Ian Lang, Independent Chairman of Marsh & McLennan Companies, and on behalf of the company, its directors and officers, welcome, and thank you for coming to our annual meeting of stockholders. Before we officially begin the meeting, I wanted to offer a word of welcome to David Yost on the occasion of his first meeting as a director of Marsh & McLennan. David joined the board as an independent director in January. He was the Chief Executive Officer of AmerisourceBergen Corporation from 2001 until his retirement in 2011. David, will you rise and be recognized? We've also been fortunate to have Elaine LaRoche join us in January as an independent director. Elaine LaRoche is a Senior Advisor to China International Capital Corporation, U.S.
She served as Chief Executive Officer of China International Capital Corporation in Beijing from 1997 to 2000, following an impressive 20-year career at Morgan Stanley. Elaine sends her apology to the meeting. She has been unavoidably prevented from attending today by another commitment. The board will surely benefit greatly from the extensive international, strategic, and leadership experience of these two new directors, as well as the perspectives they bring from the financial and healthcare sectors. Before turning to today's agenda, I would like to introduce the company's other independent directors whom I ask to stand and be recognized as I call their names. Oscar Fanjul, Vice Chairman of Omega Capital. Ed Hanway, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cigna Corporation. Steven Mills, Senior Vice President and Group Executive, Software and Systems at IBM. Bruce Nolop, former Chief Financial Officer of E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corporation.
Marc Oken, Managing Partner of Falfurrias Capital Partners and former Chief Financial Officer of Bank of America Corporation. Morton Shapiro, President of Northwestern University. Adele Simmons, Vice Chair of Metropolis Strategies and President of the Global Philanthropy Partnership. Lloyd Yates, President and Chief Executive Officer of Progress Energy Carolinas. Another director, Zachary Carter, a partner in the law firm of Dorsey & Whitney, has been prevented from attending today by another conflicting engagement. He's asked me to apologize to the meeting on his behalf. Here on the stage are Brian Duperreault, President and Chief Executive Officer of Marsh & McLennan Companies, and a director as well, and Lucy Fato, the company's Corporate Secretary. Other members of senior management are with us in the audience. In attendance are Scott Coates and Joe Echevarria of Deloitte & Touche, our independent registered public accountants, and they're available for questions later.
I hereby call the 2012 annual meeting of stockholders of Marsh & McLennan Companies to order. After proceeding with the formal part of the meeting, we will announce the preliminary voting results and quarterly dividend. Brian Duperreault will then 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 2011 annual report, the 2012 notice of annual meeting and proxy statement, and voting instructions to stockholders of record on March 19th, 2012. These affidavits, together with copies of the materials delivered and the list of stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting, have been filed with the corporate secretary. The list of registered stockholders as of the record date for 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 approximately 480 million shares, meaning 88% 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. The inspector's oath and a preliminary report of the inspectors have been filed with the corporate secretary. We're meeting today to vote on the matters described in the 2012 proxy statement. Voting will take place on these matters after they are presented to the meeting. We have not received notice of any other matter to be brought before the meeting in accordance with the notice requirements set forth in our bylaws.
The first order of business is the election of 13 persons to serve as directors, with terms expiring in 2013. As noted in the proxy statement, 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 gain re-election to the board. The board of directors nominated Zachary Carter, Brian Duperreault, Óscar Fanjul, Edward Hanway, Elaine La Roche, Steven Mills, Bruce Nolop, Marc Oken, Morton Shapiro, Adele Simmons, Lloyd Yates, David Yost, and myself, Ian Lang, for re-election as directors. No other nominations were submitted to the company. I mentioned earlier, Elaine La Roche and David Yost were elected by the board in January 2012.
Our governance guidelines provide that any director elected by the board between annual meetings of stockholders will stand for re-election at the next annual meeting. Accordingly, the board has nominated each of these individuals, including Elaine and David, for re-election to the board to serve until the 2013 annual meeting. The second 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, 2012. The audit committee approved this appointment. The third 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 2012 proxy statement. 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 re-elected. For item two, 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 2012 has been ratified. Finally, for item three, a majority of the shares present or represented and entitled to vote have voted in favor. Thus, the stockholders of Marsh & McLennan Companies have approved on an advisory basis the compensation of the company's named executive officers. The inspectors of election will provide a final certified report of the vote following the meeting. That report will become 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 on Form 8-K within four business days.
Before we adjourn this formal part of the annual meeting, I would like to announce that at a board of directors meeting earlier this morning, the board increased the company's quarterly dividend and declared a dividend of $0.23 per share on outstanding common stock payable on August 15th, 2012, to stockholders of record on July 11th, 2012. With that, the formal part of the Marsh & McLennan Companies' 2012 annual meeting is now adjourned, and I'm pleased to give the floor to Brian Duperreault, who will make some remarks about the company and then invite your questions. Brian.
Thank you, Ian. Good morning. As always, it's a privilege to be here with you, our shareholders. First, I'd like to introduce to you the members of our Senior Management Team. I'm going to ask them to stand as I call their names. We're joined today by our Group President and Chief Operating Officer, Dan Glaser. Our four operating company CEOs, Peter Zaffino of Marsh, Julio Portalatin of Mercer, whom we welcomed to the company in February, Alex Moczarski of Guy Carpenter, and John Drzik of Oliver Wyman. Also joining us is our Chief Financial Officer, Mike Bischoff, the rest of our management team. Standing here today, I am very proud of the substantial progress we've made since I joined the company more than four years ago.
I'm especially pleased with our performance over the past year as we continue to deliver against the goals we set at Investor Day some 20 months ago. After a strong 2010, our primary objective in 2011 was to build on our momentum and deliver solid growth in revenue and profitability across both of our operating segments. I'm pleased to report to you this morning that we are achieving this goal. 2011 was an excellent year for Marsh & McLennan Companies. Driven by higher client retention and new business development, revenue increased 9% to $11.5 billion, or 5% on an underlying basis. Importantly, we achieved this growth while maintaining our control of expenses. As a result, our adjusted operating income increased from $1.5 billion in 2010 to $1.7 billion in 2011, a gain of 12%.
In fact, this is the second consecutive year that both of our operating segments achieved double-digit growth in operating income. These strong results continued in the first quarter of this year with double-digit growth in operating income and earnings per share. We're off to a terrific start across all our businesses. Risk and insurance services revenue increased 7% in this first quarter, which is the highest underlying revenue growth in a decade. Profitability increased at both Marsh and Guy Carpenter. The consulting segment delivered excellent performance in the quarter as well, producing solid revenue growth on both a reported and underlying basis. Both Mercer and Oliver Wyman contributed to the segment's double-digit growth in earnings and increased operating margin.
We're very proud of our performance in 2011, our performance through the first quarter of 2012 as well, and the value that we've been able to provide to clients, to colleagues, and our shareholders. Last year, our total shareholder return, including dividends, was 19%, compared with 2% for the S&P 500 index. It's extremely gratifying for all of us to reward your trust. It was at Investor Day in September 2010 that we declared our intent to make Marsh & McLennan Companies an elite business enterprise valued by our clients, our colleagues, and our shareholders. We presented our plan to realize this vision based on four strategic pillars. Our first pillar is consistent long-term growth. Long-term growth is so important because it enables us to continuously improve financial performance while making appropriate investments in the business.
Investment in things like value-added products and technology for clients, cutting-edge analytical capabilities, and innovative processes that improve efficiency. Even more important, as a professional services firm, growth allows us to invest in and develop our colleagues, the foundation of our success. As we grow the company, the opportunities for our colleagues grow as well. The work becomes more interesting and stimulating. Career opportunities expand, the environment becomes more vibrant, and we cultivate a growing sense of pride in working for the company. Our second pillar is low capital requirements. Low capital usage will continue to be one of our company's key operating principles. We want to grow our business and we intend to be active in the acquisition front. We will not acquire or develop businesses that require significant capital investment. The third pillar is high cash generation.
One of our long-term financial goals is to maintain a high quality of earnings that allows us to strengthen the company and reward our shareholders with superior returns. Last year, the company increased its quarterly dividend 5% to $0.22 per share, and that was a dividend yield averaging 3%. Today, as you heard, we increased that dividend to $0.23 a share. Additionally, in 2011, the board of directors authorized an increase in the company's share repurchase program to $1 billion from the previous $500 million. Since announcing its share repurchase program in 2010, the company has repurchased a total of 15.6 million shares of its common stock for $447 million, which more than offsets the dilution to shareholders from the grant of equity awards to our colleagues. Our fourth strategic pillar is to continue to focus on minimizing and managing operational risk.
In support of that goal, in 2011, we introduced a new code of conduct, which we call The Greater Good. Reinforced by a global training program, The Greater Good serves as a fundamental tool to reduce risk and promote ethical behavior. It establishes non-negotiable business standards for all colleagues, emphasizes leadership responsibilities, stresses the importance of open communication and escalation of concerns, and provides colleagues with decision-making tools to manage risk. The Greater Good encourages us to think beyond our individual business concerns and consider how we can advance the broader interests of our colleagues, our clients, our shareholders, and our communities. You'll find copies of "The Greater Good" in the reception area outside, and the electronic version is posted on our website at mmc.com. It's an excellent summary of who we are and what we represent as a company. Those are our four strategic pillars.
We remain confident that successful execution of our strategy should produce long-term double-digit growth in adjusted operating income, and that's before acquisitions. Our results over the past two years demonstrate that we are delivering that level of performance. During that period, we have averaged 11% growth, and we're off to a great start this year with 12% growth in the first quarter. We plan to continue to grow through acquisitions as well as organically, acquisitions that will expand our capabilities in both risk and insurance services and consulting. During the past year, we made several acquisitions that expanded our geographic footprint and enhanced our capabilities. Marsh strengthened its position in the emerging markets with the acquisition of the insurance broking business of Alexander Forbes.
This transaction gives Marsh a leading market position in South Africa and significantly expands its presence in some of the most vibrant economies in the sub-Saharan region. We also continue to develop our Marsh McLennan Agency platform with 8 acquisitions in 2011. With its most recent acquisition in March of this year, Marsh & McLennan Agency now has annualized revenue of approximately $350 million and is quickly establishing a leadership position in the dynamic U.S. middle market segment. As we expand our global scale, we see opportunity in leveraging that scale to realize cost efficiencies, improve operational effectiveness, and better serve clients. We made a concerted effort to weave the company together and work more effectively across our individual businesses. One example of this is the work that we've done in our health and benefits business.
Already, the preeminent companies in their respective markets, Mercer and Marsh, have collaborated to implement a new operating model outside of the U.S., leveraging their capabilities and bringing together their businesses focused on employee health and benefits. Additionally, we will continue to cultivate and operationalize a culture of innovation across the firm, bringing creative approaches and best-in-class thinking to the key strategic issues faced by our clients. Last, but certainly not least, is our ongoing commitment to engaging and developing our colleagues. As a professional services firm, our continued success depends entirely on our people and their immense contributions to this company. Looking ahead to the rest of 2012 and beyond, our priorities and aspirations remain consistent. We want nothing less than recognition as one of the world's elite business enterprises.
I want to make sure that we have enough time for your questions, so I'll conclude my remarks with this. By any measure, 2011 was an excellent year for Marsh & McLennan Companies. However, the true indicator of an elite enterprise is sustained long-term success. Our strategy has yielded impressive results over the last several years, and our goal is to build on this foundation and continue to deliver outstanding returns for our shareholders. With our comprehensive portfolio of products and solutions, our unmatched global scale, and the continued hard work and dedication of our 53,000 talented colleagues, we are confident in our ability to deliver long-term exceptional performance. I want to thank our colleagues for their work, our clients for their continued trust, and our shareholders for recognizing the long-term value of our enterprise. With that, I'll be happy to take your questions. Thank you.