Good morning. I'm Kris Vaddi, Chief Executive Officer of Prelude Therapeutics Incorporated. Welcome to our 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I am a member of the Board of Directors and will serve as Chairperson of this annual meeting. I now call the annual meeting to order. With us today, we have Bryant Lim, Prelude's Chief Financial Officer, Chief Legal Officer, and Secretary. Peter Descovich of Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc., Prelude's proxy tabulator, and Bryan Snellman of Ernst & Young LLP, Prelude's independent registered public accounting firm. Peter Descovich has been appointed to act as the Inspector of Elections at this annual meeting by the Board of Directors and took the oath of Inspector of Election. Bryant Lim will act as Secretary of this annual meeting and keep the minutes. I will now turn the meeting over to Bryant.
Thank you, Kris. We welcome you to the 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Prelude. In the interest of having a fair, informative, orderly, and constructive annual meeting, the following procedures will apply. One, the business of the annual meeting will follow the order shown on the agenda. In order to prevent possible confusion, we recommend that if you have previously voted by returning a proxy to us, you permit your proxy to stand. However, if you wish to revoke your proxy and vote during the annual meeting, or if you have not voted, you will be given the opportunity to vote before the polls are closed. Only holders of record of our voting common stock on April 16th, 2026, are entitled to participate in and vote at the annual meeting.
Please note that given that we have received no proposals from stockholders, in accordance with the advance notice provisions of our bylaws, no additional proposals may be submitted for consideration at this annual meeting. With regard to the proposals being voted upon at this meeting, the proposals as set forth in Prelude's definitive proxy statement are as follows. One, to elect three Class III directors, Kris Vaddi, Paul Scherer, and Katina Dorton, each to serve a three-year term through the 2029 annual meeting of stockholders. The board unanimously recommends that stockholders vote in favor of the election of each director nominee to serve as a Class III director. Two, to ratify the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm of Prelude for its fiscal year ending December 31, 2026.
The board unanimously recommends that stockholders vote in favor of the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young. Three, to approve on a non-binding advisory basis the 2025 compensation of the company's named executive officers as described in the proxy statement. The board unanimously recommends that stockholders vote in favor of the advisory vote to approve the 2025 compensation for the company's named executive officers. Four, to approve on a non-binding advisory basis the frequency of the approval on a non-binding advisory basis of the compensation of the company's named executive officers. The board unanimously recommends that stockholders vote one year for the advisory vote on the frequency of advisory votes on named executive officer compensation. Five, to conduct any other business properly brought before the annual meeting.
On or about April 29, 2026, the notice of this annual meeting was mailed to all stockholders of record as of April 16, 2026, the record date for this annual meeting. An affidavit of mailing of the notice has been filed with Prelude's records. Only stockholders of record as of April 16, 2026, are entitled to vote at this annual meeting. As of the close of business on the record date, Prelude had 48,299,663 shares of voting common stock outstanding and entitled to vote at this annual meeting. I am advised by the Inspector of Elections that at least a majority of shares entitled to vote at this annual meeting are present online or represented by proxy, and therefore, there is a quorum for purposes of transacting business at this meeting.
I declare that this annual meeting is duly and lawfully convened for purposes of transacting such business as may properly come before it. Let's move to the voting portion of the meeting. If you are a stockholder of record and plan to vote online during today's annual meeting, please vote now using the voting button on the web portal as the polls will close in the next minute. Shareholders who have mailed in proxies or have voted previously by telephone or Internet and do not wish to change their votes do not need to take any further action at this time. The polls are now closed. I will now summarize the preliminary voting results based on proxy votes received prior to the annual meeting. Any votes submitted during this annual meeting will be included in the final report of the Inspector of Election.
With regard to the proposals, Proposal one, Class III directors are elected by a plurality of the shares present or represented by proxy and entitled to vote, which means that the three individuals nominated for election to the board of directors at the annual meeting receiving the highest number of four votes will be elected. Each nominee received a plurality of the votes cast and has been elected. Proposal two, the vote required to ratify the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as Prelude's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2026, is a majority of the shares present or represented by proxy and entitled to vote on the proposal. Ernst & Young LLP's appointment has been ratified by the requisite majority of shares present or represented by proxy and entitled to vote on the proposal.
Proposal number three, the vote required to approve on a non-binding advisory basis the compensation of the company's named executive officers is a majority of the shares present or represented by proxy and entitled to vote on the proposal. The compensation of the company's named executive officers has been approved by the requisite majority of shares present or represented by proxy and entitled to vote on the proposal. Proposal four, the vote required to approve the frequency of the approval on a non-binding advisory basis, the compensation of the company's named executive officers is a majority of the shares present or represented by proxy and entitled to vote on the proposal. The frequency of the approval of the compensation of the company's named executive officers has been approved by the requisite majority of shares present or represented by proxy and entitled to vote on the proposal.
The final results will be tallied by the Inspector of Election and filed with the SEC in a current report on Form 8-K within four business days of this annual meeting. With no questions being submitted prior to this annual meeting and no further business to be conducted, we now conclude this annual meeting. Thank you very much.
Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect and have a wonderful rest of your day.