Why CEO-S Exists

Built by CEOs Who Have Been in Your Shoes

Joel Trammell and Sherif Sakr created CEO-S after decades of leading both private and public companies.

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Our origin

A System Forged Through Real CEO Experience

Joel and Sherif saw what CEOs were missing: an actual operating system for the role. Every other executive has a platform. Now, so do you.

  • CEOs face isolation, stress, and a lack of tools designed for them
  • Joel distilled decades of leadership into a practical system
  • CEO-S is the only true operating system for the CEO role
  • Proven, repeatable, and installable in any mid-market company

Built for ceos, by ceos

We’ve Sat in Your Seat

After 30+ years leading and scaling companies, Joel and Sherif distilled what makes a CEO successful into a proven operating system.

Confident man in a suit and tie looking thoughtfully out of a window with a cityscape background.

Joel Trammell

Joel Trammell is co-founder and chairman of CEO-S, which equips CEOs with a proven operating system for delivering predictable performance and growing company valuation. A private equity founder and 30+ year veteran of the CEO role, Joel has led numerous organizations to highly profitable exits. He served as co-founder and CEO at NetQoS, which generated more than 10 times the return on invested capital. His next company, CacheIQ, delivered a 7x return to investors in 18 months. Joel also served as a board member and then CEO of the network services provider Black Box Corporation (NASDAQ:BBOX).

Joel is the author of three books: The CEO Tightrope, The Chief Executive Operating System, and The Manager’s Playbook. He regularly shares his expertise on his Substack, Managing the Future, and has contributed to publications including Entrepreneur, Forbes, and Inc.com. He is the owner of Texas CEO Magazine and chairman emeritus of the Austin Technology Council.

Sherif Sakr

Sherif comes from an international background, having grown up on three continents. His work experience includes chemical engineering, corporate sales, commercial real estate investing, entrepreneurship, and business ownership.

More recently he has coached CEOs of midsize and enterprise companies ranging — from $1 million to $1 billion in revenue — to help them achieve personal and professional success. As he guides CEOs through high-pressure situations, Sherif focuses on a mindful approach that incorporates personal growth and enjoyment of the journey.

Our Mission

Changing the Way CEOs Lead

We exist to lighten the emotional load of leadership and give CEOs a system that delivers predictable results without sacrificing control.

Help CEOs move from reactive to proactive leadership
Replace constant firefighting with a clear CEO operating model. We help CEOs anticipate issues earlier, make fewer but higher-quality decisions, and stay focused on what only the CEO can do.
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Provide structure, rhythm, and clarity across the business
Establish an enterprise-grade operating rhythm that aligns strategy, execution, and accountability. Your leadership team knows the priorities, the cadence, and how decisions get made.
Support private equity firms by strengthening portfolio CEOs
Equip portfolio CEOs with a shared language, proven frameworks, and disciplined execution. The result: faster onboarding, cleaner reporting, and more predictable value creation.
Deliver long-term partnership, not one-off training
We don’t disappear after a workshop. CEOs gain ongoing access to frameworks, tools, and advisors who understand the realities of running — and scaling — complex organizations.
real ceos. real results.

Trusted by CEOs
and Private Equity Firms

Here's what our clients say.

"It has proven to be an effective tool in driving a results-oriented culture, improving cross-functional visibility, and most importantly building trust and transparency across the organization. CEO-S gives us structure, focus, and a cadence that keeps us aligned on what matters most. If you're ready to commit and lead from the top, CEO-S will take you the rest of the way."

Shawna Camp
CHRO, Other World Computing (OWC)

"Joel dives right into what is needed to have great management and leadership among your team and to make you and your company stand apart. This is the knowledge we've been needing to build great leaders-straight to the point, from people who have been in the seat."

Paige Velasquez
BuddeCEO & Partner, Zilker Media

What Joel and Sherif have assembled in CEO-S is remarkably salient to the modern CEO. What CEO-S offers in terms of unlocking potential within teams, CEO-S has the ability to unlock within the CEO position itself, which is perhaps even more critical.
The system is powerfully simple, and simply powerful. It's a toolkit that can benefit both the newly-minted and veteran leader.

Drew Bagot
Founder & Managing Partner, Serata Capital Partners; Chapter Chair, YPO

"This course was utterly transformative for me. I left wanting to be better personally and professionally, and most importantly, I was equipped with a step-by-step proven process of how to do that."

Trey Fly
President, Joe W. Fly Co.

"Working with Sherif has been transformative. His ability to challenge my thinking while offering practical solutions has been invaluable for my growth as a leader. I highly recommend his coaching to anyone looking to achieve clarity and make meaningful progress in their professional journey"

Peter Keller
CEO, FringeSport

"As a nonprofit CEO, I found the Texas CEO Ranch training and CEO-S to be a game changer. The training was systematic and very helpful for CEOs. I strongly encourage any nonprofit CEO to attend the training."

Gary Ivory
President & CEO Youth Advocate Programs

"I have attended dozens of leadership development workshops and conferences and none of them have directly addressed leadership in a practical/ready-for-Monday-morning way like the CEO-S training. Organizations are typically slowed down by the whirlwind of their business, or struggle to discover truly effective processes for developing and managing teams-this three-day intensive not only addressed those dynamics but gave real handles that made it possible to envision success for our team."

Jennifer Mazzola
COO, Austin Bridge Builders Alliance (ABBA)

"I highly recommend CEO-S to anyone who's a CEO. It really gives you a set of rails to hop on and roll, and the principles are valuable. Joel has distilled the content down in a way that's easily digestible and easy to employ."

Tom Dorsett
CEO, RazorMetrics

"I 100% recommend CEO-S to anyone who is a CEO-or anyone who has to interact with a CEO at a significant level."

Devon Tobin
Principal & Founder, Duet Design Group

"I definitely recommend the CEO Masterclass. It's a very implementable, experience-driven, hands-on course that has obviously been tried andtested. It's not just theoretical, which I was very pleased with."

Simon Woods
President & COO, Senseye, Inc.

"What exceeded my expectations about the CEO Masterclass isn't just the leadership topics but also how to implement the concepts practically.I got a lot of things I can take back to make sure we're operating efficiently."

Connor Champion
President, Austin Christian University

"On a scale of zero to ten, I would rate my experience at the CEO Masterclass as a ten."

Mitch Best
CEO, VITAL WorkLife

This was a very important and impactful experience for myself as a CEO and for my executive team. It has been life-changing and is setting us up for much success.
I recommend these courses to all executive leadership looking to go to the next level!

Brenda Darden Wilkerson
President & CEO, AnitaB.org

I have spent 30 years operating, studying, and coaching businesses, and this is the first complete system I have seen for the CEO and executive team.
As a coach for young or first-time CEOs, I now have a tool for them to get the whole picture and a way to step incrementally into this role as they and their companies grow.

Ryan Martens
Mentor, Techstars; former Chief Technology Officer, Rally Software

CEO-S is a ten out of ten. It exceeded my expectations and gave me practical tools that I can implement immediately into my business.

Cory Salter
CEO, SharpeVision MODERN LASIK
Take the First Step

Your Role Doesn’t Have to Be This Hard

Get clarity, structure, and predictable results with CEO-S.