Piedmont Realty Trust, Inc. (PDM) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to the Piedmont Office Realty Trust 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. Stockholders can submit questions or comments at any time by clicking on the Message Us icon at the top of the web page. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Frank McDowell, Chairman of the Board of Piedmont. Mr. McDowell, the floor is yours.

Thank you, operator. Good morning. We will now come to order for the 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Piedmont Office Realty Trust. My name is Frank McDowell, and I'm Chairman of the Board of Piedmont and will preside at this meeting. Due to COVID-19 protocols, today's attendees, including myself and all of our directors and management are attending virtually via live webcast. Also with us today are various members of Piedmont's management team, including Tom McKean, Associate General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Piedmont, who will also act as secretary of this meeting; Cassandra Shedd, from our transfer agent Computershare, who has taken the oath of office to serve as inspector of the election, a report will be filed with the minutes of this meeting; Keith Townsend of King & Spalding, our external general counsel; and Robert Fleshman from Deloitte & Touche, Piedmont's external audit firm. Mr. Fleshman has advised me that our auditors have no formal statement to make at this meeting. However, he will be available during the question-and-answer period at the conclusion of the meeting to respond to appropriate questions from stockholders. I call your attention to the rules of conduct set forth for this meeting. These have been made available to each stockholder in the File section in the lower left of the screen. The secretary has informed me that copies of this meeting, including notice of Internet availability, of proxy materials and form of proxy, were mailed to stockholders on or about March 31, 2020. The record date for the voting of shares at this meeting was March 5, 2020. If you need a copy of the annual report or the proxy statement, the links are provided online. I now request the inspector of this election, Ms. Shedd, report the number of shares of common stock entitled to vote at this meeting.

As of the close of business on March 5, 2020, Piedmont had outstanding and entitled to vote 125,920,629 shares of common stock. Each share is entitled to 1 vote. There are no other securities entitled to vote at this meeting.

I'm informed on a preliminary basis that the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of the common stock entitled to vote at this meeting are present by proxy. Accordingly, I recognize the presence of a quorum for the purpose of proceeding with the business of the annual meeting and declare that such meeting is duly organized for the transaction of business subject to verification of a quorum after completion of the vote tabulation. At this time, I'll turn the meeting over to Brent Smith, the CEO of Piedmont Realty Trust, to conduct business of this meeting.

Thank you, Mr. McDowell. And I, too, would like to welcome you to today's meeting. There are 3 items of business on today's agenda. The first item is a proposal to elect 8 directors to hold office for approximately 1-year terms, until our next annual meeting. The Board's nominees are myself, Kelly Barrett, Wesley Cantrell, Glenn Cohen, Barbara Lang, Frank McDowell, Jeff Swope and Dale Taysom. And their names shall be deemed duly placed in nomination. Any other nominations for Director were required to have been submitted to Piedmont in accordance with the advanced notice provisions of Piedmont's bylaws. Having received no other nominations, I declare the nominations are closed. The second item is a proposal to ratify the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as Piedmont's independent auditor for fiscal year 2020. And the third item is for the proposal on an advisory basis of the compensation for the named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement. Detailed information concerning all of these proposals and the governance of Piedmont is contained in the proxy statement furnished in connection with this meeting. Your Board of Directors recommend a vote for each of the nominees for election as Director, for the ratification of the independent auditor and for the advisory approval of executive compensation. The poll for the matters to be voted upon is now open. Let me remind you, if you've already voted by phone, by Internet or by mail ballot, there is no need to vote again unless you desire to change your vote. If you have not voted or wish to change your vote, you may do so now by clicking on the link provided online. I will now pause for 30 seconds to give stockholders the opportunity to submit ballots. [Voting]

All right, 30 seconds have passed. Again, thank you to all our stockholders for voting and attending today's meeting. I now declare the poll closed. The inspector will tabulate the vote, and the final results will be publicly announced as soon as they're available. Will the inspector for today's meeting please provide a brief report of the preliminary results of the voting?

Thank you, Mr. Smith. I am pleased to report on a preliminary basis that on the matters of proposals 1 through 3, that all 8 named directors have received a majority vote, Deloitte & Touche LLP has been ratified by a majority of votes cast and the advisory vote to approve the compensation of the named executive officers has also been approved.

Thank you. With the formal portion of this meeting having been completed, and the poll now closed, and with no other business before the meeting, I declare this meeting adjourned. I want to thank you all for your patience as we conducted the business portion of the meeting today. At this time, I would like to ask if anyone has a question for me, the board or any of our officers. In light of security regulations and disclosure rules, we will attend to answer your questions now as best we can, or we may wait to make appropriate public disclosure later, if necessary. You may submit questions online by clicking on the dialogue icon in the upper right corner of the meeting center screen. I will now wait 30 seconds to see if any questions are received. All right. 30 seconds have passed. I believe there are no questions. And without any further questions, we thank everyone for attending this meeting, and we are grateful for your interest and support of Piedmont. Have a great day.

This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.