Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. (ACHC) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome to the Acadia Healthcare Annual Meeting. My name is Irene, and I will be your operator. [Operator Instructions] I will now turn the call over to Reeve Waud. You may begin.

Good morning. And welcome to Acadia Healthcare's 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I hope everybody who's on the phone today is safe. And glad you're attending today, a little unusual format, but we're glad to be able to do it nonetheless. I'm Reeve Waud, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Acadia. And thank you for joining us today. We're hosting our meeting in a virtual format, which allows us to conduct a safe meeting in light of coronavirus pandemic. We have stockholders attending via the web portal. And keeping with the digital approach to this year's meeting, it's now shortly after 9 a.m. Central Daylight Time on May 7, 2020, and this meeting is officially called to order. I will serve as Chairman of the meeting. And I'd like to introduce Debbie Osteen, CEO of Acadia and a Director. I also would like to note that Chris Howard, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Acadia, is online and will serve as the secretary of the meeting. To continue the introductions, also with us online today is each of the other directors of Acadia: Jason Bernhard, this is his first annual meeting, welcome, Jason; Perot Bissell; Vicky Gregg; William Grieco; Wade Miquelon; Dr. Bill Petrie. I would like to introduce the other executive officers of the company who are online with us today: David Duckworth, our Chief Financial Officer; John Hollinsworth, who's Executive Vice President of Operations; and Larry Harrod, Executive Vice President of Finance. Next, I'll introduce Doug Rohleder of Ernst & Young LLP, the company's independent public accounting firm. Our first action in the general order of business today will be to review the proposals to be considered. Next, we will vote on these proposals and then receive a report about the voting results. After the formal business of the meeting has been conducted, we will adjourn the meeting. Let me introduce Dru Anderson of Corporate Communications Inc., who assisted in the distribution of the proxy materials and who will be serving as the inspector of election for today's meeting to determine the presence of a quorum and to serve as a judge of voting on all matters requiring a stockholder vote. Next, I note that Mr. Howard has a list of stockholders in alphabetical order entitled to vote at this meeting, with the address of each stockholder and the number of shares registered in the name of each stockholder. The stockholder list is available for examination by any stockholder. Mr. Howard has presented me with the evidence that notice of this meeting was properly given to all stockholders of record as of the close of business on the record date of March 12, 2020. Ms. Anderson, has the inspector of election determined whether a quorum is present at this meeting?

Mr. Chairman, I have determined that there are stockholders represented at this meeting, in person or by proxy, holding shares of common stock representing 87.06% of the shares entitled to vote, which is sufficient for a quorum and for transacting the business of this meeting.

Great. I find that a quorum is present for the purpose of conducting business of this meeting, and I declare that this meeting is legally convened and ready to transact business. All holders of the company's common stock at the close of business on March 12, 2020, are entitled to vote at this meeting either in person or by proxy. The first item of business on our agenda is election of 2 Class III directors. The following individuals are nominated as directors to serve for a term of 3 years or until their successors are duly elected and qualified: Wade D. Miquelon and William M. Petrie, M.D. The secretary advises me that there were no nominations by stockholders submitted to the company prior to this meeting in accordance with the company's bylaws. Therefore, I declare the nominations closed. The second item of business is the proposal to approve on a nonbinding advisory basis the compensation of our named executive officers. Last year, the stockholders voted that their preference was to hold such a vote on an annual basis and the Board elected to do so. The third and final proposal to consider today is the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020. It is now approximately 9:06 a.m. Central Daylight Time on May 7, 2020, and the polls are now open. Any stockholder who's not yet voted or who 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 already 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. After the votes have been cast, the inspector will announce the results. [Voting]

How is the voting going everybody? All right. All stockholders have now submitted their proxies or ballots. And I now announce the polls for this meeting closed. Will the inspector of election please report the results of the vote?

Mr. Chairman, on the proposal for the election of Class III directors, a majority of the votes cast were in favor of the election of Wade D. Miquelon and William M. Petrie, M.D. The proposal to approve on a nonbinding advisory basis the compensation of the company's named executive officers received the affirmative vote of the majority of the shares of common stock present and entitled to vote at this meeting. Finally, the proposal to ratify the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as Acadia's independent registered public accounting firm for 2020 received the affirmative vote of the majority of the shares of common stock present and entitled to vote at this meeting.

Thank you. The Chair declares that all the business matters brought before this meeting have been properly voted upon and determined. I hereby direct the results of the voting to be incorporated into the minutes of this meeting. The business for which this meeting has been held is now complete, I declare that this meeting is adjourned. And thank you again for being with us today, and I wish you all a good day. Thank you.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

Thank you.