Good morning, and welcome to the 2021 annual meeting of Akero Therapeutics. We are very pleased to have you with us. I am Andrew Cheng, President and Chief Executive Officer of Akero, and I will preside over today's meeting. We're excited to be hosting our virtual meeting, which allows us to be more inclusive and reach a greater number of our stockholders. All stockholders participating in the meeting are attending via the web portal. In keeping with the digital approach to this year's meeting, it is now shortly after 11:00 A.M. Pacific Time on June 1st, and this meeting is officially called to order. The business before this meeting is described in our notice of annual meeting of stockholders and proxy statement, a copy of which has been provided to our stockholders. The rules of conduct will govern how we will run the meeting. They are available with other meeting materials on the link on the web portal. Before proceeding to the formal business, I would like to introduce the directors and officers of the company who are with us today. Our outside directors are Chairman Mark Iwicki, Graham Walmsley, Jane Henderson, Kevin Bitterman, Seth Harrison, Tom Heyman, and Yuan Xu. Our officers are Jonathan Young, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Catriona Yale, Chief Development Officer, Tim Rolph, Chief Scientific Officer, and William White, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Head of Corporate Development. I've asked Gabriela Morales-Rivera of Goodwin Procter, our outside legal counsel, to record the minutes. Broadridge Financial Solutions has acted as the tabulator for this annual meeting and has delivered to Jonathan Young, our Corporate Secretary, a final vote tabulation report as of 12:00 A.M. this morning, signed by an authorized representative of Broadridge. Natalie Hairston of American Election Services will act as the independent inspector of elections. She has taken her oath as the inspector of elections, which will be filed with the company's records. Mark Hanulak and Mark Sodano of Deloitte & Touche, our registered independent public accounting firm, are with us this morning. They are available to answer appropriate questions raised at this meeting. After the review of the proposals, we will provide time for questions. Only validated stockholders may ask questions in the designated field on the web portal. Out of consideration for others, please limit yourself to one question. Please note that this meeting is being recorded. However, no one attending via the web portal is permitted to use any audio recording device. The board of directors fixed the close of business on April 5th, 2021, as the record date for determining stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting. An affidavit has been delivered to the board attesting to the fact that either the proxy statement and the 2020 annual report on Form 10-K or the documents themselves were mailed on or about April 27, 2021 to all stockholders as of the record date and will be incorporated into the minutes of this meeting. At this meeting, we are asking stockholders to elect three Class II directors. The current board has nominated three Class II directors, Seth Harrison, Graham Walmsley, and Yuan Xu, to each hold office until the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders and until his or her successor is duly elected and qualified, or until his or her earlier resignation or removal. Ratify the appointment of Deloitte & Touche as our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020. In order to begin, our amended and restated bylaws require that a majority of the outstanding shares of our capital stock entitled to vote be represented in person or by proxy at the meeting for us to have a quorum. The stockholder list shows that as of the record date, there were 34,820,319 shares of common stock outstanding and entitled to vote at this meeting. We were informed by the Inspector of Elections that 31,879,913 shares of common stock, or approximately 91.55% of the voting power on the record date, are participating in the meeting, either on behalf of themselves or by proxy. Since this represents more than a majority of the voting power of all issued and outstanding stock entitled to vote on the record date, a quorum is present for purposes of transacting business. This meeting is now duly convened. The report of a quorum and all proxies received at this meeting will be filed in the company's records. We'll now consider today's proposal. Proposal one, election of Class II directors. The first proposal is the election of three Class II directors, Seth Harrison, Graham Walmsley, and Yuan Xu, to our board of directors. Each to serve until the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders and until his or her successor has been duly elected and qualified, or until his or her earlier death, resignation, or removal. If you would like to ask a question pertaining to this proposal, please complete the designated fields on the web portal. Proposal two, ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP. The second proposal before us today is the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021. If you would like to ask a question pertaining to this proposal, please complete the designated fields on the web portal. We will now open the floor to questions and the matters to be voted upon. If you would like to ask a question, please enter them in the web portal. Please note that any statements that we make today that are other than historical facts are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Please be aware that all such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties such as those detailed in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our most recent 10-K. Any forward-looking statements that we will make must be considered in light of these factors. Actual results may vary materially. Will Dr. Young please advise if we have any questions? We have no questions appropriately related to the purpose of the meeting. Thank you. As there are no questions, we will proceed to voting. It is now 11:08 A.M. Pacific Time on June 1st, 2021, and the polls are now open. Any stockholder who hasn't yet voted or wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. Stockholders who have sent in proxies or voted via telephone or internet and do not want to change their vote do not need to take any further action as your shares will be voted accordingly. Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote, I declare that the polls are now closed for the 2021 Akero Therapeutics annual stockholder meeting at 11:09 A.M. Pacific Time on June 1st, 2021. The Inspector of Elections has completed the ballots and will certify those voting results. The Inspector of Elections has the preliminary results as of close of voting yesterday. Seth Harrison, Graham Walmsley, and Yuan Xu have been duly elected directors of the company, with terms ending at the annual stockholders meeting in 2024. In addition, the Audit Committee's appointment of Deloitte & Touche as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2024 has been ratified. On certification, a Form 8-K with the final results of the voting will be filed with the SEC as soon as possible after the meeting. I direct that the report and certificate of the Inspector of Elections be filed with minutes of this meeting. This ends the formal portion of our meeting. There being no other business to properly come before this meeting, this meeting is now adjourned. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the stockholders who attended the meeting and voted, as well as those who submitted their proxies but were not able to be present in person. The 2021 annual meeting of stockholders of Akero is now officially adjourned.
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