San Jose, Ca., USA - May 5, 2015, San Jose, Ca., USA - Cisco announced that it has appointed Chuck Robbins as chief executive officer from July 26, 2015.
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Mr. Robbins was also elected to the Board of Directors of Cisco, effective May 1, 2015.
Mr. Robbins joined Cisco in 1997 and has moved quickly through the company's ranks. He most recently served as Cisco's senior vice president of worldwide operations, leading the company's global sales and partner team.
Mr. Robbins has helped lead and execute many of the company's investments and strategy shifts, including building the industry's most powerful partner program. He was also a key architect of the company's strategy for the commercial business segment, which grew to represent 25% of Cisco's total business.
Mr. Robbins has sponsored the security and collaboration businesses at the executive level and was a sponsor for the Sourcefire and Meraki acquisitions.
Mr. Robbins has more than 20 years of leadership experience. Prior to his current role, he was Senior Vice President of The Americas, Cisco's largest geographic region, where he led more than 8,500 employees in the United States, Canada, and Latin America.
Prior to leading The Americas, Mr. Robbins was Senior Vice President of U.S. Enterprise, Commercial and Canada, and from 2007 to 2009, where he led the U.S. Commercial sales organization, one of the largest growth segments in the company.
Mr. Robbins holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics with a computer science concentration from the University of North Carolina.
Cisco also announced that John T. Chambers, currently CEO and Chairman of the Cisco Board of Directors, will remain on the board and assume the role of Executive Chairman on July 26.
Mr. Chambers will devote his time to supporting Mr. Robbins and engaging closely with customers and governments around the world, with a focus on leading Cisco's role in country digitization.
Mr. Chambers has served as CEO of Cisco since January 1995, having joined the company in 1991 as the head of sales. He has received numerous awards for his leadership over his past 20 years at the helm of Cisco and has been widely recognized for his and Cisco's philanthropic leadership, including receiving the U.S. State Department's top corporate social responsibility award (ACE) twice.
Prior to joining Cisco, Mr. Chambers spent eight years at Wang Laboratories (1982-1990) and six years with IBM (1976-1982). ■