Director Independence
As a public company, we are required to comply with the rules of
the NYSE and are subject to the rules and regulations of the SEC,
including Sarbanes-Oxley. The NYSE rules require listed companies
to have a board of directors with at least a majority of
independent directors. Our Board of Directors has affirmatively
determined that ten of the seventeen nominees for election as
directors at the Annual Meeting have no material relationship with
us (either directly or as a partner, stockholder or officer of an
organization that has a relationship with us) and are independent
within the meaning of the director independence requirements of the
listing standards of the NYSE. The independent directors are Rhodes
Bobbitt, Tracy A. Bolt, J. Taylor Crandall, J. Markham Green,
Charlotte Jones, Andrew J. Littlefair, W. Robert Nichols, III,
Thomas C. Nichols, A. Haag Sherman and Robert C. Taylor, Jr.
In addition, each member of the Audit Committee has been
affirmatively determined by the Board of directors to be
independent under SEC rules and NYSE listing standard for the
purposes of Audit Committee service.
In conducting its annual review of director independence, the Board
of Directors considered transactions and relationships between each
director or any member of his or her immediate family and the
Company.
The Board of Directors also considered the lease transactions and
relationships between companies affiliated with Ms. Jones, a
director of the Company, and the Company. The Audit Committee of
the Board of Directors reviewed and approved each of these leases
and determined such leases were on an arms-length basis.
Accordingly, the Board of Directors determined that Ms. Jones is,
and continues to be, an independent director of the Company given,
among other things, the arrangement and the immaterial nature of
the leases to Ms. Jones and the Company.
Meeting Attendance
Our Board of Directors met four times during 2022. No director
attended fewer than 75% of the aggregate number of meetings of the
Board of Directors and the committees of the Board of Directors on
which he or she served, if applicable, during 2022. Our Board of
Directors has not adopted a formal policy with regard to director
attendance at the annual meetings of stockholders. We, however,
encourage members of the Board of Directors to attend annual
meetings. Eighteen directors, Ms. Jones and Messrs. Bobbitt,
Bolt, Crandall, Feinberg, Gerald J. Ford, Jeremy B. Ford, Green,
Hill, Lewis, Littlefair, W. Robert Nichols, III, Thomas C. Nichols,
Russell, Sherman, Sobel, Taylor and Webb, attended the 2022 annual
meeting of stockholders in person or virtually.
Vote Necessary to Elect Directors
The seventeen director candidates receiving the highest number of
affirmative votes, or a plurality, will be elected as directors.
For purposes of the election of directors, withheld votes and
broker non-votes will not be counted as votes cast and will have no
effect on the result of the vote, although they will be considered
present for purposes of determining a quorum. Under applicable NYSE
rules, a broker or other nominee does not have the authority to
vote for the director nominees in the absence of instructions from
the beneficial owner of the relevant shares. Stockholders may not
cumulate votes in the election of directors.
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THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS UNANIMOUSLY
RECOMMENDS A VOTE “FOR” THE
ELECTION OF EACH OF THE NOMINEES
IDENTIFIED ABOVE.
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