About
Kirk Tramble
Founder and principal, Kizata. Operator-CEO who built the Executive AI Workflow on himself first.
The operator
Kirk Tramble is the founder and principal of Kizata. He spent 17 years inside enterprise organizations: engineering and operating roles at Chevron, Oracle, Apple, and Nitro. He has run the kind of business he now installs Kizata for: most recently as Interim Executive Director of a $16M nonprofit, where the gap between “we have AI tools” and “we have an AI operating system” became the project that became Kizata.
The methodology
Kirk built the Executive AI Workflow on himself first. Six months of running Kizata's sales operations, document drafting, regulatory tracking, and operator-to-operator network through a configured AI environment with documented operating discipline. The methodology installed for clients is the methodology he runs personally.
The credentials
UC Berkeley EECS (1993). Dartmouth Tuck MBA (2002). California native, based in Castro Valley. Active in Vistage CE 13217, BESAC, GSAC, and the Berkeley/Haas alumni network.
Supporting reference
Operating history
Most Recent
Interim Executive Director, Cal Alumni Association
Founder
Founder, Kizata LLC (current)
Kizata installs Executive AI Workflow for operator-CEOs. Built and shipped production AI applications integrating multiple model providers on AWS. Most consultants in this space talk about AI. Kirk ships AI.
Enterprise
Senior Director, IT, Nitro Software (2020–2023): NIST CSF implementation from the ground up; 150–200+ application portfolio governance. Technical Account Manager and Senior Project Manager, Oracle / NetSuite Division (2014–2019): 100+ enterprise cloud and SaaS migrations; $5M project portfolio. Worldwide Fulfillment Operations Program Manager, Apple Inc. (2013). Program Manager, IT Risk Management and IT Senior Strategy Analyst, Chevron Corporation (1993–2010, 17 years): 50,000-endpoint deployment program; $7.5M departmental budget; Chevron President's Award. SOX, HIPAA, PCI, ISO, COBIT, SANS, and NIST risk frameworks throughout.
Education
- B.S. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, UC Berkeley (1993).
- MBA, Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business (2002).
Speaking and Public Roles
- Inauguration speaker for Chancellor Lyons (October 2024).
- Light the Way Campaign Close speaker (February 2024).
- Berkeley Forward AI series Executive Sponsor with Napoleon Paxton, Ion Stoica, Fernando Perez, and Darren Kimura.
- UC Berkeley Foundation Trustees campus leader, ex officio (August 2023–February 2026).
- Co-author, Cal Alumni Association June 2023 SCOTUS Affirmative Action statement.
Governance and Service
Voting Member, Alumni Associations of the University of California (June 2023–June 2025): constitutional role under Article IX, Section 9 of the California State Constitution in the selection of UC Alumni Regents.
Community
- Co-founder, UC Berkeley Black Engineering and Science Alumni Club (BESAC).
- Volunteer instructor, The Hidden Genius Project (2023–Present).
- NSBE Professional Development Conference speaker (August 2024).
- Active Vistage member, CE 13217.
Founding-customer engagement open through Q3 2026
Founding clients receive priority delivery, case-study collaboration, and locked retainer terms through 2027.