Chesapeake Energy Corp. shareholders earlier this month reelected the board of directors, but rejected separate proposals to implement proxy access, reincorporate in Delaware and declassify the board, the last of which would have made it easier to replace the entire board in one fell swoop.

At the annual meeting in Oklahoma City earlier this month COO Steve Dixon said the company had bought, delineated and retained the land it needed in the U.S. onshore and now it was time to execute (see NGI, June 17).

According to preliminary results released by the Oklahoma City-based operator on June 14, the declassification and proxy access proposals received 60% support at the annual shareholders meeting, short of the 66.7% required for passage. A third proposal to eliminate supermajority voting requirements also fell short with 60% support.

The board now plans to review the three proposals “and intends to seek feedback from shareholders before deciding on next steps.”

The board, which was revamped last year in a sweeping rebuke of company policy, was overwhelmingly reelected this year by an average 96%. Board members reelected were Bob G. Alexander, Archie W. Dunham, Vincent J. Intrieri, R. Brad Martin, Pete Miller, Frederic M. Poses, Louis A. Raspino and Thomas L. Ryan.

However, shareholders soundly rejected proposals to reincorporate in Delaware and to create a risk oversight committee, giving the proposals only 3% and 4% support, respectively. The former once enjoyed 53% support among shareholders looking to oust former CEO Aubrey McClendon (see NGI, Jan. 14; June 18, 2012).

The annual meeting was the first without McClendon, the company’s founder. Doug Lawler took over as CEO last week (see NGI, May 27).

One of Lawler’s first actions was to announce that the company had hired Patrick Craine, an attorney with the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, as chief compliance officer. Craine previously served as an enforcement attorney and worked within the oil and gas task forces for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

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