GATX Corporation (GATX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to the GATX Corporation Annual Meeting of Shareholders. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Brian Kenney, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of GATX Corporation. Mr. Kenney, the floor is yours.

Thanks, Tina. Good morning, everyone. As she said, my name is Brian Kenney. I'm the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GATX, and welcome to our 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. So due to the public health impact of the coronavirus pandemic and to protect the health and well-being of our employees, shareholders and the community, we are conducting this meeting solely in the virtual format as a live webcast. Roundabout 10 days, on May 4, we will report first quarter 2020 results, and we'll host a conference call to review results and answer questions at that time. So today's meeting will be limited to the items of business as set forth in our 2020 proxy statement. Links to the proxy and the 2019 annual report to shareholders are provided on your screen. And we're going to limit the questions to the items of business for today's meeting as set forth in the rules of conduct, which are also available to each shareholder via the link on your screen. So we hope that this virtual meeting will maximize the participation of our shareholders, regardless of their location. In addition to myself, joining today's virtual meeting are the other current members of our Board, Diane Aigotti; Anne Arvia; Ernst Häberli; James Ream; Adam Stanley; David Sutherland; Stephen Wilson; and Paul Yovovich. I'd like to take a moment to recognize Rob Ritchie, who is retiring after 9 years as a GATX Director and not standing for election this year. Rob made many valuable contributions during his tenure as a GATX Director, and we will all miss his insight, counsel and friendship. Also in attendance today is Dan Hoffenkamp, a representative from our independent registered accounts, Ernst & Young and also from Computershare; the inspector of elections, Susan Hogan. So now I'd like to turn the meeting over to Deb Golden, our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, and she will discuss the conduct of today's meeting. Deb?

Thank you, Brian, and good morning, everyone. We will conduct this meeting in accordance with the bylaws of GATX Corporation and the rules of conduct posted on the meeting site today. All shareholders of record on February 28, 2020, are entitled to vote at the meeting, and I have been advised that a quorum for the conduct of business is present. Shareholders who wish to vote at this meeting may do so now or at any time until we declare the polls closed by using the Cast Your Vote link on the meeting website. Any shareholder who has already voted and does not wish to change their vote need not take any further action. Questions about the items of business to be voted on by shareholders may be submitted now by clicking on the dialogue box in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. If you have submitted a question prior to the start of today's annual meeting, there is no need to submit again. Nonshareholder guests will not be permitted to submit questions today. We will now proceed with the formal business of the annual meeting. There are 3 items to be considered by shareholders. The first item of business is the election of the 9 nominees named in the proxy statement to serve on the Board of Directors until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until their successors are elected and duly qualified. The second item is to approve the compensation of the company's named executive officers. This proposal is a nonbinding shareholder advisory vote. The third item is a proposal to ratify the Audit Committee's appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2020. The company recommends that shareholders vote for each of the Director nominees named in the company's proxy statement and for proposals 2 and 3. [Voting]

While we wait for the final votes to be submitted, we will address the questions we have received that relate to the business of today's meeting. It appears we have no questions related to the items of business from shareholders. As such, I now declare the polls closed. The inspector of elections has tabulated the votes and her preliminary report indicates that each of the Director nominees named in the company's proxy statement have been elected. The nonbinding advisory resolution approving the compensation of the company's named executive officers has been approved. And the appointment of Ernst & Young as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2020 has been ratified. The final report of the inspector of elections will be filed with the minutes of today's meeting. I would now like to turn the meeting back to Brian.

Okay. Well, that concludes our annual meeting, ladies and gentlemen. In closing, I'd like to thank all our employees for their continued hard work, also, our Board and shareholders for their continued support. So thank you all for participating in our virtual annual meeting and for your interest in GATX.

This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.