This thesis will identify what career paths, advanced degrees, and supportive industries best enable engineers and other highly technical professionals to move past middle management layers into executive leadership. Specific questions to be addressed include: 1. Which technical degrees most often lead to CEO appointments? 2. Which industries offer the most advancement opportunities for technical degree graduates? 3. Which advanced degrees are most useful for ascension into CEO ranks? This research is specifically geared to extend the key learnings of the University of Texas at Austin Executive Engineering Management curriculum giving the reader foresight into what executive career paths are available for those with technical degrees. / text