Good day, and welcome to the Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. 2020 Annual Meeting. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to George Whitesides. Please proceed.
Good morning. I'm George Whitesides, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. And the Chairperson of today's meeting. I'm very happy to welcome you to our 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I first want to spend a brief moment on the significance of this meeting.
This is Virgin Galactic Holdings' 1st public stockholder meeting. It is also the 1st public stockholder meeting of a company dedicated to human spaceflight in history. Everyone who is participating in this meeting and each one of our stockholders is part of this historic moment and we are grateful to you for that. I also want to take a moment to address these unprecedented times. The COVID-nineteen pandemic has truly affected each and every one of us.
I personally want to thank all of the healthcare and essential workers who are tirelessly fighting on the front lines, particularly in our home communities of California and New Mexico. We are grateful for the essential service and bravery that they have shown in service to the nation and humanity. Finally, I would like to state our company's unwavering support for justice and equality. The space industry offers a beacon of hope and inspiration in this time as it has in past decades. We can do more and we must do more.
Yesterday, I welcomed our class of interns for the summer of 2020, a diverse group with equal numbers of young men and women. I was moved by their excitement at joining our team, designing, building and testing real space hardware and making a difference in the world. The world is changed by inspired practical people, taking a series of committed pragmatic steps, which over time can shift the course of history. I have seen it happen in space and I know it is possible on earth. Like our new class of student and interns, we are committed to doing our part to support that change.
Before I call the meeting to order, I'd like to introduce to you the other members of the Board of Directors who are with us today. The other members of the Board joining us today are Chamath Palahapitiya, the Chair of our Board of Directors Wanda Austin, Adam Bain, Craig Krieger, Evan Lovell, George Mattson and James Ryans. We also have several members of our management team joined for this meeting, including the following officers: John Campania, our Chief Financial Officer Enrico Palermo, our Chief Operating Officer and President of TSC LLC Michael Moses, President of Virgin Galactic LLC and Michelle Kly, our Executive Vice President and General Counsel. I would also like to introduce Tom Klockner and Mike Kelly of KPMG LLP, the company's independent registered public accounting firm. Mr.
Klockner and Mr. Kelly will be available to respond to appropriate questions during that portion of the meeting when questions about the proposals are addressed. The meeting will now officially come to order. We will proceed with the formal business of the meeting as set forth in the notice of annual meeting and proxy statement. The polls open today, June 2, 2020 at 9 a.
M. Pacific Time for voting on all matters before the meeting. If you have not already voted and wish to vote, the polls will remain open until we finish presenting the proposals and close the polls. The voting is by proxy and for those voting during the meeting, online ballot. You do not need to vote during the meeting if you have already voted and do not wish to change your vote.
Upon joining the meeting, an agenda for the meeting should have become available on your screen. Also available at the bottom of your screen is a list of the rules of conduct for the meeting. To conduct an orderly meeting, we ask that participants abide by these rules. We will be responding to appropriate questions raised regarding the matters to be voted on at this meeting. If you would like to submit a question, you may enter your question in the question and answer function on the Annual Meeting webpage.
You must include your name and if applicable, organization with your question. Please limit yourself to 2 questions and please be reminded of our rules of conduct available on the meeting webpage. Our Board of Directors set April 8, 2020 as the record date for those stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting. We have a certified list of stockholders of the company as of the close of business on the record date who are entitled to notice of and to vote at this meeting. The list was available for inspection at our corporate headquarters for 10 days prior to this meeting and for stockholders that have entered a valid 16 digit control number, the stockholder list is also available during this meeting on the bottom panel of your screen.
I also have an affidavit of mailing establishing that notice of this meeting was first distributed or made available on April 20, 2020 to all stockholders of record of the company as of the close of business on April 8, 2020. A copy of the notice of meeting and the affidavit of mailing will be included with the minutes of this meeting. At this time, I'd like to introduce Sean Curley, a representative of Broadridge Investor Communication Services. The Board of Directors has appointed a representative of Broadridge to act as Inspector of Election at today's meeting. Mr.
Kehrli has signed the customary oath of office to execute his duties with strict impartiality. We will file this oath with the records of the meeting. Mr. Curley has informed me that a quorum is present. Therefore, I hereby declare this meeting to be duly constituted for the transaction of business.
We will now proceed with the formal business of this meeting. There are 4 proposals to be considered by the stockholders at today's meeting. The company recommends that the stockholders vote for each of the director nominees named in the first proposal, 4 proposals 23 and 1 year for proposal 4. The first item of business is the election of George Whitesides, Chamath Palahapitiya, Wanda Austin, Adam Bain, Craig Krieger, Evan Level, George Mattson and James Ryans to serve on the Board and hold office until the company's annual meeting of stockholders to be held in 2021 and until their respective successors have been duly elected and qualified. The plurality of the votes cast, meaning that the 8 nominees receiving the highest number of affirmative 4 votes is the voting standard for this item of business and is required for each of the nominees to be elected.
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 nominations for director closed. A motion to elect 8 Directors is now in order. The second item of business is the ratification of the Audit Committee's appointment of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for our 2020 fiscal year.
The affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the total number of votes represented at the meeting and entitled to vote on this proposal is required for its approval. The 3rd item of business is the approval on an advisory non binding basis of the compensation of our named executive officers. The affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the total number of votes represented at the meeting and entitled to vote on this proposal is required for its approval. The 4th item of business is the approval on an advisory non binding basis of the frequency of future advisory votes on the compensation of our named executive officers. The frequency, 1 year, 2 years or 3 years that receives the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the total number of votes represented at the meeting and entitled to vote on this proposal is required to approve the frequency under this proposal.
If no frequency receives the foregoing vote, then we will consider the option of 1 year, 2 years or 3 years that receive the highest number of votes cast to be the frequency recommended by the stockholders. That was the final proposal for today's meeting. We will now address questions on the proposals. If you have not yet submitted your questions, please do so now via the question and answer text box on the Annual Meeting page. No questions have been submitted at this time.
Note that we did not answer certain questions that were not in accordance with our published rules of conduct. There are no questions at this time. If you wish to vote and you haven't already, please do so now by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions. You do not need to vote electronically if you have already sent in your signed proxy or if you have voted by telephone or Internet unless you wish to change your vote. The time is now 9.11 am on June 2, 2020, and the polls are now closed for voting.
The Inspector of Election will count the votes. Based on the preliminary report of the Inspector of Election, each of George Whitesides, Chamath Palahatia, Wanda Austin, Adam Bain, Craig Krieger, Kevin Lovell, George Matson and James Ryans have been elected as directors to serve until our annual meeting to be held in 2021. The appointment of KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for our 2020 fiscal year has been ratified. The compensation of our named executive officers has been approved on an advisory non binding basis. And the frequency of 1 year for future advisory votes on the compensation of our named executives was approved.
The final tally of the votes will be published within 4 business days in a current report on Form 8 ks to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is now 9:12 am and the formal portion of the meeting has concluded. This meeting is now adjourned. With that, ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our annual meeting. I want to thank you for attending and for your interest in Virgin Galactic.