Cisco announces new executive roster

June 4, 2015
Three days after promising a flatter organizational structure while bidding goodbye to a pair of former company presidents, incoming Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins has revealed the names of the team that he hopes will lead the company to further success. The 10-member Executive Leadership Team includes several promotions and a few new hires. Also, three members of outgoing CEO John Chambers' team are heading out the door.

Three days after promising a flatter organizational structure while bidding goodbye to a pair of former company presidents, incoming Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins has revealed the names of the team that he hopes will lead the company to further success. The 10-member Executive Leadership Team includes several promotions and a few new hires. Also, three members of outgoing CEO John Chambers' team are heading out the door.

The new leadership team includes:

  • Pankaj Patel, who will continue to oversee the company's development engineers as executive vice president, chief development officer.
  • Kelly Kramer, who was promoted to CFO January, now adds an executive vice president title.
  • Rebecca Jacoby, who is being promoted from CIO to senior vice president, operations. Guillermo Diaz, senior vice president of IT, will replace Jacoby as CIO.
  • Francine Katsoudas is now senior vice president, chief people officer, after serving as HR leader and business partner to the Cisco engineering leadership team.
  • Hilton Romanski, who formerly oversaw Cisco's mergers and acquisitions activities as well as the company's private investment portfolio, is now senior vice president, chief technology and strategy officer.
  • Karen Walker becomes senior vice president, chief marketing officer, after leading Cisco's go-to-market organization.
  • Chris Dedicoat is now senior vice president, worldwide sales. He most recently was senior vice president of EMEAR.
  • Joe Cozzolino is now senior vice president, services, after heading the company's service provider mobility and video infrastructure businesses.
  • Mark Chandler is senior vice president and general counsel.
  • Dr. Ruba Borno joins Cisco as vice president, growth initiatives and chief of staff. She leaves Boston Consulting Group, where she was principal and leader in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications, and People & Organization practice groups.

Jacoby replaces former president and COO Gary Moore, while Dedicoat and Patel assume the duties previously held by Rob Lloyd, ex-president of development and sales. Robbins revealed this past Monday that Moore and Lloyd would leave the company as part of the restructuring.

But Moore and Lloyd are not the only high-ranking executives on their way out. Padmasree Warrior, now former chief technology and strategy officer, and Edzard Overbeek, recently senior vice president of services, will leave the company, after they serve as strategic advisors until Robbins is satisfied that his new team has completed its transition. Wim Elfrink, formerly executive vice president for industry solutions and chief globalization officer, will retire from Cisco July 25.

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