Eric Starkloff, President and COO of National Instruments, will take over as CEO from Alex Davern, who will step down on January 31, 2020. Davern rose to CEO on January 1, 2017 upon the retirement of founder Dr. James Truchard.

Starkloff began his career at NI as an applications engineer in 1997 after earning his BSEE from the University of Virginia. His rise to the top started by becoming a product marketing manager in 1998, then director of product marketing in 2004, VP of product marketing in 2008, VP of marketing in 2011, SVP of marketing in 2013, EVP for global sales & marketing in 2014, then president and COO in October 2018.

Over the years, Starkloff has given many a presentation at NIWeek. He's always had a talent for dazzling the crowd when introducing new products or features to existing products. He'd describe a problem and pulling then pull the proverbial "rabbit out of the hat" trick showing how a new product could solve the problem.

According to NI's press release, Davern will take a teaching position at the University of Texas in the fall of 2020. Following his January 31 departure as CEO, Davern will act as a strategic advisor to Starkloff through May 2020, after which he will remain on the NI board of directors.

By: DocMemory
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