Nam Tai Electronics Inc. of Shenzhen, China, announced that its founder, Koo Ming Kown, 62, will retire as its non-executive chairman effective Dec. 31, 2006. Koo plans to remain on Nam Tai's board, as a non-executive director, until the company's annual general shareholders' meeting in June 2007, when he plans to retire. Koo founded Nam Tai, an electronics manufacturing and design services provider to telecommunications and consumer electronic products OEMs, in 1975. Since 1988, he has focused on corporate strategy, finance and administration in various capacities. He has served as a non-executive director since January 2005 and reassumed the position of board chairman, but maintained his non-executive status, in July 2005 upon the resignation of Tadao Murakami for health reasons. Since then, Koo has reduced his daily involvement as a move toward retirement. On Jan. 1, he will be succeeded as chairman by Charles Chu, a board member since 1992. Chu has been an attorney in private practice in Hong Kong since 1988. Nam Tai's board now comprises six members, all of whom are non-executive directors, or not company officers or employees.