- The appointment of John S. Reed, currently Interim Chairman, as Chairman, with his agreement to serve until the 2005 annual meeting;
- The nomination of the current directors to be placed on the proxy for election at the Exchange's annual meeting on June 3, 2004;
- Asking the members in June to advance the annual meeting to April, which will be April 7 in 2005.
"The directors were very gratified at the response to our call for recommendation of individuals to be considered for nomination as directors by public equity investors and by the Industry Members of the Board of Executives. The 110 names put forward for our consideration represent a remarkably diverse range of talent and experience. The breadth of the recommendations shows the deep public commitment to this marketplace.
"The unexpectedly large response has made it difficult for the board to give proper consideration to all the individuals during the short time before the proxy statement must be distributed later this month. We want to devote serious attention to these candidates, which requires more time. We are moving up the Exchange's annual meeting date in 2005 to the first Thursday of April, which will give us time for thoughtful review of the qualifications of the candidates, meeting with a number of them, and taking those findings into consideration in nominations for the 2005 election of directors as well as in appointments to the Board of Executives and Advisory Committees."
As to the nomination of Mr. Reed, Ms. Albright said: "The directors feel that we are making excellent progress in addressing the governance and regulatory issues that have confronted the Exchange, thanks in large part to the Board leadership of John Reed. We are pleased that he has agreed to commit himself to continue in that leadership role until the 2005 election."
