TEKEM stood for "Tektronix Employee" and was a program to enable employees to have ownership in the company.  Employees owned stock in the form of shares in TEKEM, Inc., a Nevada corporation which actually held the Tektronix, Inc. shares. In 1958, the initial contribution to the employee TEKEM accounts took the form of shares equaling 9.4% of base pay. The first shares were paid to employees in April of 1959.  in 1963, when the company went public, TEKEM was absorbed into Tektronix, Inc. and all shares were converted to public stock.

This September 26, 1962 Tekem report features Howard Vollum addressing employees.  It has been edited to just his remarks.  Click on the image to view the PDF.

This July 24, 1963 transcript is of Howard Vollum's speech to a special meeting of TEKEM shareholders on "Expectations Concerning the Proposed Merger and Public Offering".  Click on the image to view the PDF.

There is a 1963 What Is TEKEM? video on our video gallery.