Company also announces new appointments to Board of
Directors
Garmin Ltd.
has announced the retirement of Gary L. Burrell as Co-
Chairman and as a director. Dr. Min H. Kao, who is the company's
CEO and who served with Mr. Burrell as Co-Chairman, will continue
as Chairman and CEO. Mr. Burrell and Dr. Kao together formed the
Garmin group of companies in 1989. The Board of Directors also
announced the appointment of Mr. Burrell as Chairman Emeritus in
recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the success of
the company.
Mr. Burrell commented, "Over the past 15 years, I have had the
rare and gratifying opportunity to help build a great organization
whose products have helped improve the safety of navigation. As I
approach my 67th birthday, I am honored by my appointment as
Chairman Emeritus and will always cherish the company, its products
and my relationships with individual members of our Garmin team
around the world."
"Gary Burrell has been my friend, mentor and partner for more
than 15 years," said Dr. Kao. "His vision, values, engineering
skills and commitment to serving our customers have been the
foundation for the growth of our company. The Board and I join the
entire Garmin team in wishing Gary happiness and good health in his
retirement."
Garmin's Board of Directors also announced the appointment of
two new members to the Board, increasing the total number of
directors to six, of whom four are independent directors. The newly
appointed directors will stand for re-election by the shareholders
at Garmin's annual meeting in 2005. The new directors are Charles
W. Peffer and Clifton A. Pemble. Mr. Peffer has also been appointed
as a member of the Audit Committee.
Charles W. Peffer is a former audit partner with KPMG LLP. He
holds a BBA degree from the University of Kansas and an MBA degree
from Northwestern University. Mr. Peffer became a partner with
KPMG's predecessor firm in 1979 and served in the firm's Kansas
City office as Partner in Charge of Audit from 1986 to 1993 and as
the office's Managing Partner from 1993 to 2000. Mr. Peffer retired
from KPMG in 2002. Mr. Peffer currently serves on the Board of the
Commerce Funds, a family of eleven mutual funds.
Clifton A. Pemble is Director of Engineering of Garmin
International, Inc. In this capacity, he leads engineering and new
product development for the Garmin group of companies. Mr. Pemble
holds bachelor's degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from
MidAmerica Nazarene University. He has served as Director of
Engineering for Garmin since 2002 and previously served as Software
Engineering Manager from 1995 to 2002 and as a Software Engineer
from 1989 to 1995. Prior to joining Garmin, Mr. Pemble was a
Software Engineer at Allied Signal (now known as Honeywell
International, Inc.).
"These two new directors add extensive financial and engineering
expertise to our Board," said Dr. Kao. "They will each bring their
own individual, professional insight and leadership to our Board
and we welcome the contributions they will make to Garmin's
continued growth and success."