A representative of Broadridge Investor Communications, Inc. will serve as the inspector of elections during the Annual Meeting.
Electronic Delivery of Stockholder Communications
We encourage you to help us conserve natural resources, as well as significantly reduce the printing and mailing costs, by signing up to receive your stockholder communications electronically via email. With electronic delivery, you will be notified via email as soon as future annual reports and proxy statements are available on the internet and you can submit your stockholder votes online. Electronic delivery can also eliminate duplicate mailings and reduce the amount of bulky paper documents you maintain in your personal files. To sign up for electronic delivery:
Registered Owner: Visit www.astfinancial.com and log into your account to enroll.
Beneficial Owner: Please follow the instructions provided to you by your broker, banker, trustee or nominee.
The SEC has adopted rules that permit companies and intermediaries (such as brokers) to implement a delivery procedure called “householding.” Under this procedure, multiple stockholders who reside at the same address may receive a single copy of our annual report and proxy materials, including the Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials, unless the affected stockholder has provided contrary instructions. This procedure reduces printing costs and postage fees and helps protect the environment as well.
This year, a number of brokers with account holders who are our stockholders will be “householding” our 2021 Annual Report and proxy materials, including the Notice. Once you receive notice from your broker that it will be “householding” communications to your address, “householding” will continue until you are notified otherwise or until you revoke your consent. Stockholders may revoke their consent at any time by calling Broadridge at +1 (866) 540-7095 or writing to Broadridge, Householding Department, 51 Mercedes Way, Edgewood, New York, 11717, USA.
Upon written or oral request, we will promptly deliver a separate copy of the Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials and, if applicable, our 2021 Annual Report and proxy materials to any stockholder at a shared address to which a single copy of any of these documents was delivered. To receive a separate copy of these materials, you may write our Corporate Secretary at 200 East Randolph Street, 25th Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60601, USA.
Any stockholders who share the same address and receive multiple copies of our proxy materials and annual report who wish to receive only one copy in the future can contact their brokerage firm, bank, or other nominee to request information about householding of our Corporate Secretary at the address listed above.
Special Note regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Proxy Statement includes forward-looking statements, which are statements other than statements of historical facts and statements in the future tense. These statements include but are not limited to, statements regarding our business, our business strategy and plans, our objectives and future operations and our social responsibility initiatives. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “aim,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “believe,”