Yocam was president, chief operating officer (COO), and a board director of Tektronix, Inc. He joined the Beaverton, Oregon, manufacturer of test and measurement equipment, computer graphics products, and television systems in 1992. He is credited with turning around the company, providing eight consecutive quarters of improved core operating income and with refocusing the company's research and development spending, so that more than 50 percent of revenues came from new products, compared with 22 percent in 1991. He was originally tapped to replace the CEO, Jerry Meyer, on Meyer's retirement, but when Meyer put those plans on hold, Yocam quit. His three-year contract was completed in 1995.