GENEVA (AP) — Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, best known for hosting an annual meeting of political, business and other elites in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos, is retiring as chairman more than a half-century after creating the Geneva-based think tank, the forum said Monday.

The founder of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab has stepped down from the organization’s board of directors after more than 50 years at the helm. He will be succeeded on an interim basis by the WEF’s vice chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe,