Joel Trammell served as cofounder and CEO at NetQoS, a software company that optimized the performance of computer networks.  Under his tenure, the company generated more than 10 times the return on invested capital. Trammell moved on to cofound another software company, CacheIQ, which delivered a 7X return to investors in 18 months. He later served as a board member and then CEO of the network services provider Black Box Corporation (NASDAQ:BBOX). He is also the cofounder and managing partner of Lone Rock Technology, a private equity firm.

As a leading CEO educator, Trammell has contributed to Entrepreneur, Forbes and Inc.com, sharing his experienced-based insight on business leadership topics. He has served on the boards of public, private andnonprofit organizations, and was named Chairman Emeritus of the Austin Technology Council. In his first book, The CEO Tightrope, Joel explored the core responsibilities of the modern chief executive job.

Sherif Sakr’s background includes success in engineering, sales, investing, business ownership, and coaching CEOs in private and in groups. After observing the challenges most CEO face—which include trial by error, having blind spots in their experience and decision making, and often being in firefighter mode—he resolved to create a curriculum and a process to help structure his guidance to them.  It was then that Sherif’s path intersected with Joel’s. Joel had already developed a systematic approach to the CEO role and wanted to expand its reach. This led to the birth of American CEO and the development of an organization committed to supporting CEOs in their one-of-a-kind role. Together, Joel and Sherif have written a book encapsulating the American CEO training program, titled The Chief Executive Operating System.