Hello everyone. My name is Doug Stotlar. As Chair of the Board of Directors of Reliance, it is my pleasure to welcome you to our 2026 annual meeting of stockholders. First, on behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to recognize the more than 16,000 employees throughout our family of companies, each of whom contributes significantly each and every day to Reliance's success. Second, we are also grateful for you, our stockholders, and your continued investment in Reliance and your attendance at this virtual annual meeting of stockholders. We will proceed with the required annual meeting agenda and then Reliance's President and Chief Executive Officer, Karla Lewis, and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Arthur Ajemyan, will respond to any questions submitted through the web portal.
Please note that only stockholders who have properly registered to attend this virtual annual meeting will be able to submit questions using the designated field on the web portal. With us today is a representative of Broadridge Financial Solutions, our Inspector of Elections. Also attending are representatives from KPMG LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm, including our 2026 lead audit partner, Sevagn Aritonian. We are now ready to begin the business portion of the annual meeting. Will Smith, our Corporate Secretary, will record the proceedings of the meeting. Before we can proceed with the annual meeting, our bylaws require the presence in person or by proxy of a majority of the shares entitled to vote at the meeting in order for a quorum to exist.
Our Inspector of Elections has informed me that the shares of those present or represented by proxy are in excess of the quorum requirements, and I now declare a quorum present. As you know from the proxy materials, our first order of business is the election of directors. The board of directors has nominated a slate of nine directors to serve for a term of one year and until their successors have been duly elected and qualified. I would like now to introduce my colleagues on the Reliance Board of Directors, each of whom is present today and has been nominated to serve another one-year term. Lisa Baldwin, Karen W. Colonias, Chair of the Compensation Committee, Frank J. Dellaquila, Chair of the Audit Committee, James K. Kamsickas, Karla R. Lewis, President and CEO of Reliance, Robert A. McEvoy, David W. Seeger, Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee, and John G. Sznewajs.
There are three other proposals to be considered today: a non-binding advisory vote to improve the compensation of the company's named executive officers, ratification of the appointment of KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm to perform the audit for our 2026 financial statements, and consideration of a stockholder proposal submitted by Mr. John Chevedden. Before we proceed to voting, Mr. Chevedden is on the phone today to present his stockholder proposal. Operator, we are ready for Mr. Chevedden.
Mr. Chevedden, your line is open.
Mr. Chevedden, please present your stockholder proposal.
Hello, this is John Chevedden. Proposal four, directors who fail to obtain a majority vote. Shareholders request the board of directors take the necessary steps to ensure that directors who fail to obtain majority vote in a future uncontested election shall leave the board as soon as possible, but in no case shall such directors serve more than nine months on the board after such failed election. A voter rejection by Reliance shareholders needs to be respected. Reliance shareholders often only vote on three items in a year. The least that Reliance can do is to respect all three votes. If Reliance accepts shareholder approval, like executive pay, then Reliance should be prepared to accept shareholder rejection of a director. Nine months is adequate time for Reliance to find a highly qualified replacement director. This proposal will give Reliance directors more of an incentive to perform.
This proposal is necessary because, in practice, too many companies that had directors who received failed votes simply allow the failed directors to continue serving as though they were actually elected and as though the company had no policy for a majority vote in order for a director to be elected. At least this proposal informs shareholders that the directors of so many companies have found a way to make it moot, that directors are supposedly required to obtain a majority vote for election. It is sad that directors of so many companies look for ways to escape accountability to shareholders. Please vote yes for proposal 4.
Thank you, Mr. Chevedden. We will now proceed with the vote of all these matters. If you returned a proxy, your votes have automatically been recorded in accordance with your instructions. Any stockholders who are properly registered for the virtual meeting and who have not yet voted or wish to change their votes may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions. The polls are now closed for voting. Will the Inspector of Elections please provide the voting results?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Of the 51,108,881 shares of the company's common stock outstanding and eligible to vote at this meeting, 45,993,748 shares, or 89.99% of the outstanding shares are represented and a quorum exists. Votes were cast for the four matters being considered in the following manner. Regarding proposal one, the election of directors, at least 34,111,575 votes, or 83.49% of the votes cast, were voted in favor of each of the 9 director nominees.
39,282,052 votes, or 96.09% of the votes present, voted in favor of proposal two, to consider a non-binding advisory vote to approve the compensation of the company's named executive officers. 45,646,752 votes, or 99.25% of the votes present, voted in favor of proposal 3 to ratify the appointment of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2026.
Regarding proposal number four, the stockholder proposal regarding any directors who failed to receive a majority, 6,419,815 votes, or 15.70% of the votes present, voted in favor, and 34,315,008 votes, or 83.94% of the votes, voted against the stockholder proposal. I respectfully submit my inspector's oath and report to be filed with the minutes of this meeting.
Thank you, Mr. Inspector. As a result of the voting, I hereby declare that all nominees for director have been elected for a term of one year. Number 2, the non-binding advisory vote to approve the compensation of the company's named executive officers has been approved. Third proposal, an appointment of KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm to perform the annual audit of our 2026 financial statements has been ratified. Number 4, the stockholder proposal has not been approved. With the results now officially announced and recorded by the corporate secretary, and there being no further business, I hereby declare the 2026 annual meeting of stockholders adjourned. Thank you for your attendance and your continued support of Reliance. At this time, Karla and Arthur will respond to questions from our stockholders.
As a reminder, only stockholders who have properly registered to attend this virtual meeting are able to ask questions using the designated field in the web portal.
Great. Thank you, Doug. This is Karla Lewis. We do have two questions submitted. The first question, please advise the significant government infrastructure and defense projects that AMI Metals recently secured. As we shared on our recent earnings call, our subsidiary, AMI Metals, was awarded a contract for steel and logistics services to support the building of the border wall. The first portion of the contract is about $1.4 billion running through the middle of next year, with an additional extension, if exercised, to go up to $2.2 billion. It's a good piece of business for Reliance that we're excited to have been awarded. We're currently filling that project. We also received a two-year extension with three award with three 1-year extensions of our Joint Strike Fighter and related programs through Lockheed Martin.
AMI Metals will continue to perform, as they have been doing for many years under that contract as well. The second question, does Reliance Steel still score poorly in third-party ESG evaluations? I do not believe Reliance scores poorly. We have continued to improve our scores over the years with additional disclosures and attention. We have not needed to change anything that we're doing in the company. We just need to provide additional disclosures, and we're very proud of our ESG scores as they stand today. Seeing no further questions at this time, we thank you again for attending this annual meeting of stockholders and for your continued support of Reliance. Have a good day.
The meeting has now concluded. Thank you for joining, and have a pleasant day.