James Truchard

Dr. James Truchard, National Instruments president and CEO, cofounded the company in 1976 while working at The University of Texas at Austin. Under Truchard's leadership, National Instruments has pioneered the development of virtual instrumentation software and hardware that has revolutionized the way engineers design and develop measurement and automation applications.

In 1986, Truchard and Jeff Kodosky invented NI LabVIEW graphical development software. With LabVIEW, engineers and scientists can use graphical system design to quickly and intuitively build customer-defined solutions for test, control, and embedded design applications.

As NI has grown from a three-man team to a multinational organization with more than 6,000 employees, Truchard continues to lead the company with the same entrepreneurial mindset that led to its inception more than 30 years ago. He focuses on ensuring employees have a working environment that fosters innovation, and as a result, NI has seen 33 years of growth in its 35-year history.

Truchard’s long-term course for NI equally balances the success of its four stakeholders: customers, employees, shareholders, and suppliers. Truchard and his management team have created an award-winning corporate culture that has been recognized as one of the top 25 companies to work for in the world on "The World's Best Multinational Workplaces" by the Great Place to Work Institute.

Truchard also is an active supporter of the NI academic program which focuses on growing students’ science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills through hands-on, project-based learning.

Before founding NI, Truchard worked as managing director of the acoustical measurements division at Applied Research Laboratories at The University of Texas at Austin. Truchard holds a doctorate in electrical engineering, as well as a master of science and bachelor of science in physics, all from The University of Texas at Austin.