Alex Davern is a management lecturer for the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. Davern is the former CEO of National Instruments Corp. (NI) of Austin, where he started working in 1994 and where he remains a board member. He was only the second CEO to lead the company since its founding in a garage in 1976 by James Truchard, Jeff Kodosky, and Bill Nowlin. 

As CEO, Davern was responsible for balancing the company’s long-term vision with short-term business needs to create value for its customers, employees, partners, and shareholders. He also set the highest ethical standards for NI’s financial reporting and led the company through more than 20 acquisitions. Davern is recognized throughout the industry as an expert in the areas of corporate finance and executive leadership.

During his NI tenure, he also served as company president, COO, executive vice president, CFO, treasurer, senior vice president, corporate controller, and international controller. Before joining NI, he worked in Europe and the U.S. for the international accounting firm Price Waterhouse LLP.

Davern holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce and a postgraduate diploma in professional accounting from University College Dublin in Ireland. He serves on the boards of directors for FARO Technologies and Cirrus Logic Inc. and is chairman of the board of ESI Group.