James Joseph Truchard (born June 25, 1943, in Austin County, Texas) is an American billionaire, electrical engineer, and a businessman who is the co-founder and former president and CEO of National Instruments, a company producing automated test equipment and virtual instrumentation software. Truchard is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. Biography Truchard was born June 25, 1943, in Austin County, Texas, the fourth of seven children born to Joe Truchard and Lillie Schneider. Truchard earned a B.S. and an M.S. in physics, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Following his graduation, Truchard worked as managing director of the acoustical measurements division at the U.T. Applied Research Laboratories. Founding a company After two years of working for U.T., Truchard realized that there was little room for promotion unless one of his coworkers retired. As he often remarks, he "didn't see a job I wanted [in Austin] - so I created one!" Working with colleagues Jeff Kodosky and Bill Nowlin, Truchard was part of a project conducting research for the U.S. Navy that allowed them to use early computer technology to collect and analyze data. Frustrated with the inefficient data collection methods they were using, the three decided to create a product that would enable their task to be done more easily. In 1976, working in the garage at Truchard's home, the three founded National Instruments and began designing an interface board. The group hired their first employee, Kim Harrison-Hoson in 1977 to process orders and deal with customers. Truchard's job at UT had provided him with some experience in developing products but not with managing employees or a business, so he read many books on the business and management principles in order to learn how to run a company. In 1979, as they reached $300,000 in sales, Truchard was able to leave his job at UT to concentrate on his new company full-time. In 1986, in conjunction with Kodosky, Truchard played a pivotal role in the development of the LabVIEW graphical development software, which allows scientists to quickly build solutions for their measurement and automation needs. The graphical programming interface that LabVIEW provided revolutionized the way engineers and scientists worked. National Instruments After the release of LabVIEW, the company's future seemed secured. Under Truchard's leadership, NI has seen growth and record revenue in 35