Good day, and welcome to the Oshkosh Corporation twenty twenty one Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I would now like to turn the conference over to Steve Neulen. Please go ahead.
Good morning and welcome to the twenty twenty one Annual Meeting of the Shareholders of Oshkosh Corporation. I'm Steve Newland, Director and Chairman of the Board and it is a privilege to preside over our meeting today. Due to the ongoing nature of the global pandemic, we are conducting this meeting virtually in order to keep everyone safe. We will begin with the official business of the meeting as outlined in our proxy materials. After we adjourn the formal meeting, you'll receive a brief business update from Wilson Jones, Chief Executive Officer, and John Pfeifer, Mr.
Jones' successor and the current President and Chief Operating Officer of Oshkosh Corporation. This meeting is now called to order. Joining me today virtually are the other directors of Oshkosh Corporation. And as I introduce each of them, please join me in thanking them both personally and on behalf of all shareholders for their support and service as a director to Oshkosh Corporation. First, Keith Allman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Masco Corporation.
Wilson Jones, our Chief Executive Officer of Oshkosh Tyrone Jordan, who served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Dura Automotive Systems Kimberly Metcalfe Coopers, who's the retired chief marketing officer of Johnson Controls International plc Raymond Odierno, retired general of the US Army who served as the 30 Chief of Staff for the US Army. Craig Ompheth who is the retired Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Fortune Brands. Duncan Palmer, who is the Global Chief Financial Officer of Cushman and Wakefield Sandra Rowland, who is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Xylem Incorporated and John Shealy, who is the retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Briggs and Stratton Corporation. Also with me is Ignacio Cortina, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the company. Also here virtually are Sandy Heft and Bruce Ehrensmeyer of Deloitte and Touche, the company's independent public accountants.
Ignacio, would you please introduce the formal portion of the meeting?
Thank you, Steve. We are holding this meeting for the purposes stated in the notice of the annual meeting. This twenty twenty one Annual Meeting of Shareholders is convened in accordance with the notice and proxy statement first distributed on 12/18/2020 to shareholders of record as of December 7. We have appointed Charlie Zaid as our independent inspector of elections for today's meeting, and he is attending virtually. Mr.
Zaid has informed me that at least 92% of the stock of Oshkosh of record as of December 7 is represented at this meeting. This means that a quorum is present and the legal requirements to proceed with this meeting have been met. The polls are now open and will remain open until we officially close them later in the meeting. Any shareholder who hasn't voted or wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal. Shareholders who have already voted by proxy, including over the Internet or by phone, do not need to vote again.
The first item of business to come before this meeting is the election of directors for terms to expire at the two thousand twenty two annual meeting. The proxy materials identified the board of director nominees and described their backgrounds, skills and qualifications. There are no other nominations at this time. The second item of business to come before this meeting is the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte and Touche as the company's independent auditors for the fiscal year ending 09/30/2021. The third item of business to come before this meeting is a consideration of a resolution to approve on an advisory basis the compensation of our executive officers named on Page 46 of the proxy statement.
The fourth item of business to come before this meeting is to consider a shareholder proposal included in the proxy statement for this meeting regarding proxy access. I will recognize Mr. Chiveden to speak on the proposal. Please limit your remarks to three minutes. Operator, please unmute Mr.
Chavezin's line.
Hello. This is John Chavezin. Can you hear me okay?
We can hear you.
Okay. Proposal four, improve our Catch-twenty two proxy access. Shareholders request that our board of directors take the steps necessary to enable as many shareholders as may be needed to combine their shares to equal 3% of our stock owned continuously for three years in order to enable shareholder proxy access. The current arbitrary ration of 20 shareholders to initiate shareholder proxy access can be called Catch-twenty two proxy access. In order to assemble a group of 20 shareholders who have owned 3% of Oshkosh stock for an unbroken three years, one would reasonably need to start with 60 activist shareholders who own 9% of Oshkosh stock for an unbroken three years because initiating proxy access is a complicated process that is easily susceptible to errors due to 4,400 words of tedious language about proxy access in our bylaws.
The 60 activist shareholders could then be whittled down to 40 shareholders because some shareholders would be unable to timely meet all the paper chase requirements. After the 40 shareholders submit their paperwork, then management might arbitrarily claim that 10 shareholders do not meet the requirements since the Oshkosh board of directors is the authority in interpreting the Oshkosh proxy access rules and management might convince another 10 shareholders to drop out, leaving 20 shareholders. But the current bylaws do not allow 40 shareholders submit their paperwork to end up with 20 qualified shareholders. And the initial 50 shareholders who own 9% of Oshkosh stock for an unbroken three years might determine that they own 51% of Oshkosh stock when the length of unbroken stock ownership is factored out. But how does one begin to assemble a group of 60 potential participants if potential participants cannot even be guaranteed participant status after following the proxy access rules that are a daunting 4,400 words of tedious language because a single shareholder always takes the risk that he will be the twenty first shareholder who would be excluded after a substantial investment of time by the arbitrary ration of 20 shareholders.
It is also important to have a more practical means to use shareholder proxy access since OSHCO shareholders are prohibited from acting by written consent. Plus, the shareholder right to call a special meeting has taken a big hit due to the avalanche of online shareholder meetings that are often tightly controlled bareboat meetings where all challenging questions and comments are screened out by management. Please vote yes and prove our Catch-twenty two proxy access proposal four.
Thank you, Mr. Shibetan. Operator, please mute the sponsor's line. We do have two questions that have been submitted regarding the official business of the meeting. The first question is how much did the company pay auditors in 02/2020 and 02/2019.
I would refer the audience to page 24 of the proxy statement, which outlines the fees paid to the auditor, Specifically in 2019, the auditors were paid $3,573,000 In fiscal year 'twenty, the auditors were paid $4,033,000 The second question relates to the CEO pay in fiscal year twenty nineteen and fiscal year twenty twenty. I would refer the audience to page 46 of the proxy statement where they can find the 2020 summary compensation table, which includes compensation for named executive officers. Specifically, in fiscal year twenty twenty, Wilson Jones, the Chief Executive Officer was paid $8,106,122 in fiscal year twenty nineteen. Compensation was $10,258,166 This completes the items to be voted on at today's meeting. The polls for voting are now closed.
I will next proceed with the vote and provide a report on the results. Steve and I received proxies authorizing us to vote shares on the items of business for today's meeting and we have voted these shares accordingly. Based on preliminary tabulation from the Inspector of Elections, I can report as follows as to the items of business at today's meeting. Shareholders have elected all 10 director nominees. Shareholders have ratified the appointment of Deloitte and Touche as the company's independent auditors for fiscal year 2021.
Shareholders have approved on an advisory basis our named executive officer compensation and shareholders have rejected the shareholder proposal. The final tally of votes certified by the Inspector of Elections will be included with the minutes of this meeting and made publicly available with the SEC in the next few days.
Thank you for that report, Ignacio. As there are no further business to come before this meeting, I declare the meeting adjourned. I'd like to thank all our shareholders for your continued confidence and support. But before I turn it over to management for a brief update, this is going to be Wilson Jones' last shareholder meeting as Chief Executive Officer and Director. And I'd like to take a moment to personally recognize and express our appreciation to Wilson on behalf of our board and our shareholders.
As we announced in November, mister Jones is retiring from the company in April. Wilson has served as CEO since January of twenty sixteen and has served as an executive with the company for over fifteen years. He's been instrumental in shaping the people first culture and values of the company along with the growth and operational excellence the company has seen during his tenure. Additionally, mister Jones is focused on the future of the company as we're closely with the board to identify and prepare the company's next CEO, John Pfeiffer. So, Wilson, we wish you and your family the very best in retirement and we're grateful for all you've done for our company.
And we're delighted to see the smooth transition that is well underway between Wilson and John. And John, you have some big shoes to fill, but we know you're up to it And we look forward to your election as CEO as planned on 04/02/2021. Now Ignacio has a brief important announcement.
Thank you, Steve. Wilson Jones and John Pfeifer will now report on the company's activities and provide other information regarding the company's operations. Today's presentation is being webcast. An audio replay will be available on our website for approximately twelve months. The remarks that follow, including the videos shown at this meeting, include statements that we believe to be forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.
These forward looking statements are subject to risks that could cause actual results to be materially different. Those risks include, among others, matters that we've described in our annual report on Form 10 ks filed with the SEC on 11/18/2020, our quarterly report on Form 10 Q for the first quarter of fiscal year twenty twenty one filed on 01/27/2021 and other filings we make with the SEC. We disclaim any obligation to update these forward looking statements, which may not be updated until our next quarterly earnings press release, if at all. References in the remarks to a quarter or a year are to our fiscal quarter or fiscal year unless stated otherwise.
Thank you, Ignacio. Now please welcome Wilson Jones, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Oshkosh Corporation. Wilson?
Thank you, Steve. I appreciate your kind words. I've certainly enjoyed working with you and our Board of Directors. Oshkosh Corporation is fortunate to have this great group of professional directors to help navigate this big global industrial. I want to personally thank all of you and let you know I've appreciated all your support and guidance during my tenure.
To our shareholders, I've enjoyed the engaging dialogue that I've had with many of you over the years and want to thank you for your continued interest in the Oshkosh Corporation. To our people, I want all 14,000 plus teamers to know it's been an honor to work with you these past sixteen years. Working together, we've built a strong foundation that's positioned the company well for the future, and I'm certainly going to enjoy watching your continued success. I'll continue working closely with John and the team to ensure a smooth transition over the next couple of months, and I'm confident that the company is in good hands with John Pfeiffer leading the way, backed by a very strong leadership team and a seasoned Board of Directors. John, I'll pass the mic to you for our business update.
Thank you, Wilson. And I'd like to thank everybody for attending our twenty twenty one Annual Shareholders Meeting. I'm going to just make a few brief remarks. But before I begin my discussion, I'd also like to thank Wilson for all he's done for this company. Under his leadership, Oshkosh Corporation has become the remarkable company that it is today.
The culture he established and the values that he instilled will continue to be the foundation of our company's success. I also wanna say that I appreciate the trust that has been put in me to lead this company, and I am humbled and honored to serve as the next CEO of Oshkosh Corporation. I'm constantly inspired by the talent our team possesses, the values we live each and every day, and our commitment. It's an unwavering commitment to delivering on our purpose. And we do have a powerful purpose at Oshkosh Corporation.
That purpose is to make a difference in people's lives. It's our why, and it's a deep why. And we take it very, very seriously. Whether it's the lives of our team members, our customers and end users, our community members, or others who have put their trust in our in in Oshkosh Corporation. Everything that we do is designed to make somebody's life better.
And our purpose is grounded in our values. There are four core values that we hold very dearly. Number one is that we put people first. We respect the impact that we have on each other, on the people we serve, in the communities around the world. Number two, we persevere.
We're a team that doesn't give up. We demonstrated this over a hundred years ago, and this is still a very much part of who we are today. Our ability to effectively manage through the pandemic is just another example of our perseverance. Number three, we do the right thing always. We work ethically.
We respect our environment. And number four, we are better together. That means that we value diversity, diversity of thought, diversity of experience, diversity of gender, diversity of ethnicity to create an inclusive environment. These values have guided us through some of the most challenging times in our history, including the pandemic that we're going through right now, and we'll continue to guide our future actions. We are a recognized leader in making a difference.
We are guided by our ethical culture and our dedication to doing the right thing. One testament of our ethics is that we were named one of the most ethical companies by Ethisphere Institute for the fifth consecutive year. Our team members have embraced our people first culture and have witnessed the positive impact this strong culture has on our engagement, and ultimately, that leads to business results. We continue to build a diverse and inclusive workplace. Over two years ago, Wilson Jones signed the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion.
This is the largest CEO driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and we're committed to doing just that at Oshkosh Corporation. We have increased education opportunities for team members to learn, grow, and develop diverse and inclusive skills. We've invested in the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion Social Justice Fellowship. One of our team members is one of the 250 fellows to work full time on advancing social justice through public policy. And we are focused on a in a on attracted and retaining diverse talent.
For example, we have over 1,000 veterans, reservists, and natural guard members we proudly call our team members and have we have been named a military friendly employer by Victory for a third consecutive year. We're a customer focused company. Our people first culture and core values have paved the way to deliver market leading products to our customers. We're committed to exceeding the needs of our customers, designing and delivering products and services that provide safety, reliability and exceptional performance to those who do some of the most dangerous and important jobs in the world. In 2020, we received the Magnuson Hendriksen Award for our innovative progress in vehicle dynamics.
We work hard to deliver for our shareholders. We've made capital allocation a pillar of our strategy, and we have a great track record of returning cash to shareholders through share repurchases and a consistently growing dividend. And finally, our efforts in sustainability have earned us a place on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and one of Barron's top 100 most sustainable companies. We are making a difference. We often call ourselves a different integrated global industrial, and we are just that.
What that means is that we're not a holding company. We actually get a lot of leverage and a lot of benefit by being in a variety of markets. We're able to leverage our expertise and our capabilities across that variety of end markets. I'm referring to things like research and development, strategic sourcing and megatrend technologies that transcend individual markets. These advantages provide a great opportunity to bolster our market leadership.
Our focus on making a difference for those who rely on us was evident in our fiscal year 2020, and I'm extremely proud of the hard work execution our Oshkosh team members demonstrated as we managed through the pandemic. The underlying strength we derive from our people first culture was, and it continues to be, a key enabler to our success as we navigate through these challenging times. We often talk about how we're better together, and we certainly have exhibited this and it shows in our results. In 2020, we delivered sales of nearly $6,900,000,000 and adjusted earnings per share of $4.94 and our consolidated backlog is up over 10% versus the prior year as we have controlled what we can control, and we've responded very quickly to challenges that are outside of our control. Given the conditions that were present in our markets in The United States and around the world, we believe that this represents solid performance.
The duration and the impact of the pandemic on the economy remain uncertain, but the resiliency of Oshkosh team members has been impressive as we've responded to a variety of challenges, including changing customer demand, new working protocols and supply chain disruptions amongst others. We believe our value and strengths as a different integrated global industrial are even more pronounced versus our competitors in times like these. Our success can be attributed to our leading business unit brands, each with a history of advancing the industries that they serve. Our brands leverage innovation, they leverage supply chain, they leverage procurement, and they leverage operational efficiency across our connected portfolio. We have three primary pillars that guide our growth plans going forward.
First, we innovate. We innovate by combining advanced technology and operational strength to empower and protect the everyday hero. That includes leveraging strengths with disruptive technologies. We continue to create breakthroughs to revolutionize the way people work and the way people move. In fact, our focus on disruptive technologies continues to make us a leader in product innovation.
And we are certainly well down the road of electrification, autonomy and active safety, intelligent products, digital manufacturing and advanced analytics. Second, we serve. We serve and support those who rely on us with a relentless focus throughout the product life cycle. We have hundreds of thousands of units in the installed base being used right now as we speak. It is our intention to continuously enhance total cost of ownership for our customers by ensuring equipment operates efficiently from the cradle to the grave.
And finally, we advance. We strive to advance our company into new adjacent categories to better serve the everyday hero and also into new geographies. This guides both our organic and our inorganic growth initiatives. As you know, we work hard to deliver for our shareholders. Oshkosh is a company that generates strong free cash flow even in the face of the pandemic.
We have made capital allocation a pillar of our strategy and have a great track record of returning cash to shareholders through share repurchases and a consistently growing dividend. From 2017 to 2020, we returned over $930,000,000 in dividends and share repurchases. That's nearly 80% of our free cash flow during that period of time. Our performance in the first quarter of this year continued to demonstrate the perseverance and disciplined execution of our team. In the first quarter, we delivered sales of nearly $1,600,000,000 and adjusted earnings per share of $1.13 both of which exceeded our expectations.
It bears repeating, our people have done an exceptional job of adapting to changing situations where flexibility and resiliency have kept us moving in the right direction. We announced our intent to acquire Pratt Miller, which closed on January 19. We're confident that they will be a great fit with our company. While revenue was softer than prior year in our Access Equipment and Commercial segments, this was consistent with our expectations. And as expected, we continue to see improvement in our Access Equipment segment and are more confident in a second half recovery.
Although I have to say the precise timing and the magnitude of that recovery remains uncertain. Our overall outlook is bolstered by the excellent visibility we have with our Defense and Fire and Emergency segments, both which have backlogs that extend well into the future. We're well positioned for success, and we have a positive long term outlook. Thank you for participating in our twenty twenty one Annual Shareholders Meeting. If you have any questions, please reach out to Pat Davidson or Jeff Watt through the contact information that's displayed on the screen.
We appreciate your interest in The Oshkosh Corporation. And today, we'll leave you with a video showing how we've continued to make a difference and persevere in the face of the pandemic.