John B. Sanfilippo & Son’s shareholders elected three directors representing common stockholders and seven representing Class A holders at the company’s Oct. 28 annual meeting. They also ratified PricewaterhouseCoopers as the independent auditor for fiscal 2027 and approved the company’s executive compensation in an advisory vote.
The director votes were conducted separately by share class; the auditor and compensation votes combined both classes.
- Common-stock directors: Pamela Forbes Lieberman received 4,432,277 votes for and 3,323,068 withheld; Mercedes Romero received 3,058,394 for and 4,696,951 withheld; and Ellen C. Taaffe received 3,845,112 for and 3,910,233 withheld. All three were elected. Romero and Taaffe each received more withheld votes than votes for.
- Class A directors: James J. Sanfilippo, Jasper B. Sanfilippo Jr., Jeffrey T. Sanfilippo, John E. Sanfilippo, Lisa A. Sanfilippo, James A. Valentine and Michael J. Valentine each received 2,597,426 votes for, with none withheld. All were elected.
- Auditor: Shareholders ratified PwC’s appointment for fiscal 2027, with 34,316,258 votes for, 125,478 against and 2,873 abstentions.
- Executive pay: The advisory compensation proposal passed with 33,469,868 votes for, 252,658 against and 7,079 abstentions.
What changes: The meeting confirmed the company’s board representatives under its separate class voting structure. The results also show notable opposition among common-stock voters to Romero and Taaffe, even though both were elected. The compensation vote was strongly in favor, and PwC’s appointment was ratified.