Before joining F5, McAdam was president and chief operating officer of Sequent Computer Systems (1995–1999) and later served as general manager of IBM's web server sales business (1999–2000).[6]
McAdam joined F5 in July 2000 and led the company through a period of expansion, including its growth into a multibillion-dollar annual-revenue business while he was CEO.[4][7]
In October 2014, the company announced that McAdam planned to retire as CEO at the end of fiscal year 2015, with the board indicating he would remain involved as non-executive chair.[7][8][9]
McAdam was re-appointed to the position on December 14, 2015, following the resignation of Manuel Rivelo.[5][10][11]
In January 2017 F5 announced François Locoh-Donou would replace McAdam in April.[12][13]
McAdam continued as a director after stepping down as CEO in 2017,[3] and later did not stand for re-election to the board at F5's fiscal-year 2019 annual meeting (held March 12, 2020).[14]
McAdam has held board and advisory roles with technology companies and investors. In 2015, Madrona Venture Group named him a strategic director.[15] He also served on the board of Nutanix beginning in 2015,[16] and retired from that board at the company's annual meeting on December 13, 2019.[17]
In 2019, he joined the board of directors of ExtraHop, a Seattle-based security company.[19]
In October 2020, Brytlyt announced McAdam as chairman of its board.[20] UK corporate filings list him as a director of Brytlyt Limited from October 2020 until March 2024, and also record other directorships, including roles at Quantexa (2019–2022) and Quality Clouds (appointed 2022).[21]