About Joel Trammell

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I am the cofounder and CEO of XpertLoop, which makes ChatCEO, and the creator of the Chief Executive Operating System, a comprehensive framework for the CEO role designed to help leaders build organizations that deliver predictable performance.

Drawing on more than three decades as a chief executive, I have spent the latter part of my career codifying the practices of effective CEOs and developing the training, tools, and technology to put them into practice. At XpertLoop, that work now includes ChatCEO, an AI operating platform built specifically for chief executives.

My approach is grounded in an extensive operating career spanning private, venture-backed, and public companies. In 1999, my wife, Cathy Fulton, and I cofounded NetQoS, a network-performance-management software company. Under my leadership, NetQoS recorded 31 consecutive quarters of double-digit revenue growth and grew to more than 1,000 customers worldwide before being acquired by CA Technologies for $200 million in 2009. The transaction generated more than a 10x return for the company’s investors. I later cofounded CacheIQ, a storage software company acquired by NetApp after delivering a 7x return to investors. I subsequently served as CEO of Black Box Corporation, a publicly traded network-services company then listed on NASDAQ, and I am a cofounder and managing partner of Lone Rock Technology Group.

Over the course of my career, I became increasingly focused on a problem I saw across the business world: CEOs are expected to master a uniquely demanding job for which there is little formal preparation. I began translating my experience into a structured discipline for the role, ultimately developing the Chief Executive Operating System. The methodology defines the CEO’s core responsibilities and provides practical frameworks for strategy, organizational alignment, decision-making, goal execution, and performance. Today, hundreds of CEOs use the system, and I regularly teach it through XpertLoop’s CEO Masterclass and private executive training.

I am the author of The CEO Tightrope, The Manager’s Playbook, and The Chief Executive Operating System. Together, my books address the practical disciplines of leading companies, managing teams, and performing effectively in the chief executive role. My writing on leadership and management has appeared in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc., and Fast Company, and I publish the newsletter Managing the Future.

I am a longtime member of the Austin technology community, an inductee of the Austin Tech Hall of Fame, and Chairman Emeritus of the Austin Technology Council. I have served on the boards of public, private, and nonprofit organizations. I hold a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Louisiana Tech University and previously served as an instructor at the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Power School. I live in the Austin area with my wife, Cathy, and we have three children.