Robbins kicks off new Cisco era with double exec swoop
Chuck Robbins hooks in new chief technology officer and chief digital officer on first day as Cisco CEO
Chuck Robbins has kicked off his tenure as Cisco CEO by bringing in a new chief technology officer and a new chief digital officer.
News of the appointments was announced on Monday – Robbins' first day in the post – on a company blog post.
"As I officially step into the CEO role today, I'm honoured to lead what I believe to be the best-positioned company in our industry. I am not the only one who sees the opportunity ahead for Cisco.
"Today, we welcome two amazing industry and thought leaders to Cisco's Executive Leadership Team (ELT). Zorawar Biri Singh is joining us as our senior vice president and chief technology officer, platforms and solutions, and Kevin Bandy will serve as our senior vice president and chief digital officer," Robbins said.
Biri Singh joins Cisco from venture capital firm Khosla Ventures, where he was a venture partner, and prior to that he served as senior vice president and general manager of cloud at HP for two years.
In his new position at Cisco Biri Singh will "drive thought leadership around Cisco's long-term technology road map, platforms and architectures". He is responsible for long-term investments and helping to make sure Cisco's technology strategy fits into its corporate road map.
Before joining Cisco, Bandy was senior vice president of enterprise transformation at Salesforce.
In his new role, Bandy "will help us define our next-generation digital strategy".
"He will work with teams across Cisco to design a comprehensive vision for us, and our customers, to capture the true value of digitisation by leveraging Cisco's broad portfolio of solutions and services," Robbins said.
"With the addition of Biri and Kevin, I believe we have the best and most passionate leadership team in the industry, with the right capabilities and values to lead us into the future," Robbins added.
News of the new recruits comes just a week after CRN revealed Cisco's EMEA services boss Edwin Paalvast was promoted to president of EMEA.
And earlier this month a host of exec changes was announced, prior to Robbins stepping into his new position.
In the blog post, Robbins indicated that data will be pivotal to the company's strategy moving forward.
"The ability to secure, aggregate, automate, and draw insights from the data – with speed – will ultimately define success. For 50 years, the IT industry has been bringing data to the 'computer'. Now, we're bringing computing – with analytics, insights, and actions – to the data.
"Only Cisco, and only the network, can deliver the highly secure, distributed, and intelligent infrastructure and solutions required in today's highly dynamic digital world," Robbins said.
Robbins' arrival in the CEO brings to an end John Chambers' 20-year stint at the top. Take our John Chambers quiz here: