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April 25, 2019 | | |
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| | Corporate Headquarters 4955 Technology Way Suite 700 Boca Raton, Florida 33487 |
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Dear Shareholders: | | TEL: 561 893 0101 866 301 4436 Fax: 561 443 1833 www.geogroup.com |
The GEO Group, Inc. (the “Company” or “GEO”) is holding its 2019 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the “2019 Annual Meeting”) on May 7, 2019 at 10:00 A.M. (EDT). By now, you should have received our Notice regarding the 2019 Annual Meeting and the availability of our proxy materials. You can view our Proxy Statement dated March 28, 2019 and our Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2018 (collectively, the “Proxy Materials”) at www.proxyvote.com.
Since the date that the Company filed the Proxy Materials with the SEC, members of the Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”) and management have continued to engage in direct conversations with numerous shareholders as part of the Company’s normal shareholder outreach. As part of our communications with shareholders, we have discussed various topics regarding our 2019 Annual Meeting.
As we previously indicated, we are in the planning stages of developing and publishing an annual public statement with respect to human rights. As a result of communications with various shareholders, we have decided to accelerate our timeline and publish an annual public statement beginning in 2019 regarding the work we have done to date to operationalize our commitment to respect human rights while still giving due consideration to the legal and contractual obligations and limitations we have with respect to the confidentiality of information about those in our custody and care.
We expect that the first annual public statement that will be released in 2019 will provide information that will help shareholders and stakeholders better understand our continuing commitment to human rights. However, we believe as we refine the metrics to measure our human rights performance and the appropriate level of disclosure considering our legal and contractual obligations and limitations, the annual public statements in the future will continue to evolve, be more comprehensive and reflect our ongoing engagement efforts with our stakeholders and shareholders.
Based on our continued shareholder engagement efforts and the status of our planning efforts, our position has evolved. As a result, we are withdrawing our opposition statement included in the Proxy Statement and our Board is withdrawing its original recommendation to the shareholders to vote against Proposal 4. This change reflects our determination that we can provide an appropriate annual public statement in 2019.
We also welcome the opportunity to continue to have meaningful engagement with our stakeholders and shareholders regarding our existing Global Human Rights Policy and the annual public statement that we plan on publishing in 2019.