# Tarek Kamil

> Tarek Kamil is a Cincinnati software entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Cerkl. After beginning to write software around age 12, changing course from pre-med in college, and building the sports-simulation company WhatIfSports.com, which Fox acquired in 2005, Kamil returned to a local school-board communication problem. That volunteer project became Cerkl, a platform built around personalized employee communication across email and workplace channels.

- **Role:** CEO and Founder at Cerkl
- **Organizations:** Cerkl, WhatIfSports.com, Fox Interactive Media, InfoMotion Sports Technologies, Oakmont Holdings, Cintrifuse, Madeira Board of Education, Madeira Schools Foundation, The Brandery, UpTech, The Garage Group, OCEAN Accelerator
- **Education:** BS, Cognitive Psychology and Psycholinguistics, University of Dayton, MBA, Business Information Systems, Xavier University
- **Known for:** Founded WhatIfSports.com, which grew to more than 500,000 members before Fox Interactive Media acquired it in 2005., Founded Cerkl from a school-district volunteer project and developed it into an internal communications software company., Helped launch InfoMotion Sports Technologies' smart basketball, named a CES innovation honoree in software/mobile.

## Career timeline

- **2000** — Founded WhatIfSports.com and served as president.
- **2005** — Fox Interactive Media acquired WhatIfSports.com; Kamil became VP of Interactive Games.
- **2009** — Began serving as managing partner of Oakmont Holdings.
- **2011** — Joined InfoMotion Sports Technologies as Executive Director of Online Strategy.
- **2012** — Started the project that became Cerkl while volunteering with the Madeira school district.
- **2013** — Founded Cerkl and launched it as an organization communication platform.
- **2018** — Cerkl introduced AI-powered employee News Digests.
- **2021** — Cerkl raised a $7 million Series A led by River Bay Investments.
- **2026** — Cerkl launched its free-forever Foundations tier and made it free for educational use.

## Achievements

- Founded WhatIfSports.com, which grew to more than 500,000 members before Fox Interactive Media acquired it in 2005.
- Founded Cerkl from a school-district volunteer project and developed it into an internal communications software company.
- Helped launch InfoMotion Sports Technologies' smart basketball, named a CES innovation honoree in software/mobile.
- Raised a $7 million Series A for Cerkl in 2021.
- Served in education, startup mentorship, and regional advisory roles including the Madeira Board of Education and Cintrifuse board.

## Latest updates

- **2026-06** — Cerkl announced redesigned internal communication analytics in its Insights product.
- **2026-02** — Cerkl made Broadcast Foundations free for educational institutions; Kamil described clear communication as basic infrastructure for schools.
- **2026-01** — Cerkl launched Foundations as a free-forever internal communications tier for small and mid-sized organizations.
- **2025-10** — Cerkl added 11 internal communications email templates to Broadcast, with Kamil emphasizing email's continuing role for need-to-know messages.
- **2025-04** — Kamil co-presented a webinar with Emma Bridger on AI-powered, people-first internal communication.

## Links

- Website: https://cerkl.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tkamil
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/TarekKamil
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No_siH8Ifok

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/tarek-kamil
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-23