Gartner, Inc. (IT) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning and welcome to the Gartner, Inc. Annual Meeting of Stockholders Audio Webcast. Please note that this event is being recorded. No one attending the meeting is permitted to use any audio recording device. I would like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Jules Kaufman, General Counsel and Secretary of Gartner, Inc. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and welcome to the 2021 Annual Stockholders Meeting of Gartner, Inc. I'm Jules Kaufman, General Counsel and Secretary of Gartner, Inc., and I'll be chairing today's meeting. Joining me are Gene Hall, our Chief Executive Officer; Craig Safian, our Chief Financial Officer; David Cohen, our Head of Investor Relations; Dan Mar, Patrick Edgar and Sean Murray of KPMG, our independent registered public accounting firm; and Kevin Tang, our Assistant Secretary, who will act as Inspector of Elections. We are hosting this meeting virtually as part of our precautions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. This virtual platform allows us to protect the health and safety of our stockholders and employees. It's now 10:01 Eastern Time, and I officially call this meeting to order. Stockholders may submit a question at any point. [Operator Instructions] After a proposal is presented, we will respond to questions relating to the proposal that have been submitted. We will do our best to provide a response to as many as possible. [Operator Instructions] Please refer to the rules of conduct and procedures available on the Annual Meeting website. The record date for this meeting is April 8, 2021. Only stockholders of record on that date are entitled to vote at this meeting. I'm advised that this meeting has been properly noticed and that we have a quorum of over 90% of our outstanding shares to allow us to proceed. The list of registered stockholders as of the record date is available for inspection on the annual meeting website. All of the items on today's agenda have been discussed in depth in the 2021 proxy statement previously made available to all stockholders and a copy is available on the annual meeting website. We will now present the matters to be voted upon. For stockholders who wish to vote at this meeting, you may vote by clicking the Vote Here button. For stockholders who have already voted, no additional action is required with respect to the matters being voted upon. The polls are now open and will be closed as soon as all the proposals are presented and related questions are addressed. The first item to be voted on is the election of each of the 10 nominees to the Board of Directors. The directors will hold office until the 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders or until the successors are duly elected and qualified. The nominees are: Peter E. Bisson; Richard J. Bressler; Raul E. Cesan; Karen E. Dykstra; Anne Sutherland Fuchs; William O. Grabe; Eugene A. Hall; Stephen G. Pagliuca; Eileen M. Serra; and James C. Smith. The Board unanimously recommends that you vote for each nominee for director. We will now take a short pause to allow you to submit your questions. It appears that no applicable question has been submitted. We will now consider proposal 2. The second item to be voted on is the approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of our named executive officers as described in the 2021 proxy statement or say on pay. The Board unanimously recommends you vote for this proposal. We will now take a short pause to allow you to submit your questions. It appears that no applicable question has been submitted. We will now consider proposal #3. The third item to be voted on is the ratification of the appointment by our Audit Committee of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the 2021 fiscal year as described in the 2021 proxy statement. The Board unanimously recommends that you vote for this proposal. We will now take a short pause to allow you to submit your questions. It appears that no applicable question has been submitted. We will now consider proposal #4. The fourth and final item to be voted on is the approval of the amended and restated 2011 employee stock purchase plan as described in the 2021 proxy statement. The Board unanimously recommends you vote for this proposal. We will now take a short pause to allow you to submit your questions. It appears that no applicable question has been submitted. We will now continue. Any stockholder who hasn't yet voted or wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the annual meeting website and following the instructions. 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. We will now take a short pause to allow you to submit your vote. [Voting]

Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote and there being no other matters to come before the meeting, I declare the polls for the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders closed. We've been informed by the inspector of elections that the ballots have been counted and validated, and we have the preliminary vote report for the 4 proposals that appear in the proxy statement. On proposal #1, I'm pleased to report that the stockholders have elected all 10 nominees to the Board with about 90% of votes cast in favor of their election in all cases. The second item on the agenda is the say-on-pay proposal. I am pleased to report that our stockholders have approved our executive compensation as described in 2021 proxy statement, with over 90% of votes cast in favor of this proposal. This vote is advisory only. The third item on the agenda is the ratification of the appointment of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the 2021 fiscal year. I am, likewise, pleased to report that the stockholders have ratified the appointment of KPMG with over 90% of votes cast in favor of the proposal. The fourth and final item on the agenda is the approval of the amended restated 2011 employee stock purchase plan. I'm pleased to report that the stockholders have approved the plan with over 90% of votes cast in favor of the proposal. The exact voting results for all proposals will be included in the company's current report on Form 8-K that will be filed with the SEC in the next 4 business days. This concludes our Annual Meeting. In accordance with the company's bylaws, I hereby adjourn today's meeting. On behalf of the Board of Directors and the management team, I'd like to thank you for attending the 2021 Gartner, Inc. Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Thank you.

Your conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.