Hello, welcome to Energy Vault Holdings, Inc. annual meeting of stockholders. I would now like to introduce Mr. Robert Piconi, Chairman of the Board, Co-founder, and Chief Executive Officer of Energy Vault Holdings, Inc. The floor is yours.
Great. Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, and welcome, everyone, to the 2026 annual meeting of the stockholders of Energy Vault Holdings. I am now calling this meeting to order. I should apologize in advance for my voice. That sounds a little scratchy. Apologies for that. Hopefully, everyone will be able to hear me. This meeting is being webcast live, and the webcast will be posted to our website for a period of time after the meeting. Welcome to those stockholders participating by webcast. I would like to begin the meeting by introducing the current members of the company's board of directors who are present here. Larry M. Paulson, our Lead Independent Director, Theresa Fariello, Director, Dylan Hixon, Director, Thomas Ertel, Director, Mary Beth Mandanas, Director, and Stephanie Unwin, Director. We also have a number of the company officers here with us.
Also present are the following: Michael Beer, our Chief Financial Officer, Akshay Ladwa, Chief Development and Operations Officer, Marco Terruzzin, our Chief Revenue Officer, Cory Magnuson, President of Asset Vault, Goncagul İçören, our Chief People Officer, Laurence Alexander, our Chief Marketing Officer, Amy Blakeway, our Chief Legal Officer, Craig Horne, Chief Technology Officer, and Richard Espy, our Chief Information and Security Officer. Larry Siegel and Michael Greenwood are also joining us, representatives from BDO USA, our auditors, and are here with us. Amy Blakeway, the Chief Legal Officer of the company, will serve as Secretary of the meeting and record the proceedings.
She has delivered an affidavit of Broadridge, the registrar and transfer agent for our common stock as to the distribution of the notice of the meeting, which states that on April 17th, 2026, notice of the meeting, together with the related proxy materials, were distributed to all stockholders of record as of the close of business March 31st, 2026, the record date for receiving notice of the meeting. This affidavit is available for any stockholder who wishes to examine it and will be filed with the minutes of the meeting. I also hereby appoint Christine Amrhein of Broadridge as Inspector of Election for the meeting and any adjournment or postponement of this meeting. She signed an oath to act, and this oath will be filed with the minutes of this meeting. On the virtual meeting webpage, you will find an agenda for the 2026 annual meeting.
You will also find the rules of conduct for today's meeting. To conduct an orderly meeting, we ask that participants review these rules carefully and abide by these rules. Note that only stockholders who are logged into the meeting will be able to vote and ask questions at today's meeting. We will be responding to appropriate questions raised regarding the matters to be voted on at this meeting. If you'd like to submit a question, you may enter a question in the Ask a Question function on the annual meeting webpage. You must include your name and, if applicable, organization with your questions. Please limit yourself to two questions. Amy Blakeway will now report on the existence of a quorum for the meeting. Amy?
The stockholder list shows that 174,146,636 shares of common stock of Energy Vault Holdings, Inc. are entitled to vote at this meeting. The Inspector of Election has informed us that there are represented in person or by proxy in excess of 128 million shares of common stock, or approximately 73.5% of all shares entitled to vote at the meeting. Based upon the percentage of the total shares of Energy Vault Holdings, Inc. common stock held by holders of record now present at the meeting, either in person or by proxy, a quorum is present. The meeting is now duly convened for the purposes of transacting business properly brought before it.
Thank you, Amy. The first item of business is the election of the Class II Directors of the company. The nominees are listed in the agenda and the proxy statement sent to you earlier. Directors elected today will hold office until the 2029 annual meeting of stockholders and until their successors are elected and qualified. The candidates for director who have been nominated to serve as directors for the company's Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and Board of Directors are Stephanie Unwin, Theresa Fariello, and Thomas Ertel. In accordance with the advance notice provision in the bylaws of the company, stockholders are required to provide advance notice of their intent to nominate candidates for directors. No such notice was received. Therefore, I declare the nomination for directors closed. A motion to elect three directors is now in order. Voting will commence after all proposals have been presented.
We'll now move to the next proposal. The second item of business is the ratification of the Audit Committee's appointment of BDO USA as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ended December 31st, 2026. This is the final proposal for today's meeting.
Because no further business is on the agenda to come before this meeting, we will move on to voting. Any shareholder who has not yet voted or wishes to change their vote should do so now by clicking the Vote Here button on the web portal and following the instructions provided. Shareholders who have sent in proxies or voted via the telephone or internet and who do not wish to change their vote do not need to take any further action. We will pause for one minute to allow shareholders to submit their votes. It is 12:05 P.M., and I declare that the polls are now open for the matters to be voted on today, Friday, May 29th, 2026. I declare the polls are now closed at 12:06 P.M. today, Friday, May 29th, 2026.
The Inspector of Election has informed us that the preliminary voting results show that the following nominees have been duly elected. Stephanie Unwin, Theresa Fariello, and Thomas Ertel have been elected as directors by the stockholders, receiving the affirmative vote of at least a plurality of votes cast at the meeting. BDO USA, P.C. has been ratified as our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026, receiving the affirmative vote of at least a majority of the votes cast at the meeting. We will report the final voting results in our current report on Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission after the meeting.
Amy. For those of you participating via the web portal, you can submit a question by typing a question in the Ask a Question field on your screen and clicking Submit. Please remember to follow the rules of conduct. In accordance with the rules of conduct of the meeting, we ask that you limit yourself to two questions. We have not received any questions. I hereby request the final report of the Inspector of Election be filed with the minutes of this meeting. There are no other matters to come before the meeting, I hereby declare this meeting adjourned. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your attendance and interest. The annual meeting is now concluded. You may now disconnect. Have a good weekend.