Dwight Decker, chief executive of Conexant Systems Inc., plans to retire again from the Newport Beach-based chipmaker this fall, the company said Monday. Decker, 57, will remain as non-executive chairman after a replacement is hired.
Decker was chief executive of Conexant from its spinoff from Rockwell International in 1999 until he retired from the company when it acquired GlobespanVirata in 2004.
Later in 2004, Decker returned to right the company after a difficult integration.
“When I agreed to come back as chief executive officer, Conexant faced significant challenges,” Decker said in a statement. “I committed to returning the company to profitability and restructuring the balance sheet, to rebuilding the company’s core marketshare positions, and to laying the foundation for future growth by focusing on new product development and leveraging lower-cost offshore resources.”
Part of Decker’s plan was selling off Newport Beach-based Jazz Semiconductor. Jazz filed twice for an initial public offering that never got off the ground. But earlier this year, the chipmaker was sold to blank-check company Acquicor Inc. and has since gone public as Jazz Technologies Inc.
Last year, Decker was among a group of investors in the Laguna Beach-based Okapi Venture Capital LLC, which raised $30 million to fund early stage technology companies.
Decker also cofounded the Orange County Technology Action Network, a group of local technology leaders and investors, and is a big contributor to the University of California, Irvine.
