Former Cisco channel boss takes up exec role at Rubrik

New chief commercial boss will head up Rubrik's partner business

Backup vendor Rubrik has welcomed former Cisco global partner boss Wendy Bahr as its new chief commercial officer.

Bahr will be responsible for the vendor's MSP, global system integrator and partner teams, as well as hardware and software alliances and the professional services teams.

"Throughout my career, I have been passionate about connecting customers, sellers and partners in a way that provides tremendous scale, mutual value and growth," Bahr (pictured) said.

"Rubrik provides unprecedented value and offers enterprises a simple solution to one of their thorniest problems: managing data and applications in today's hybrid cloud world.

"I am thrilled to be a part of such an innovative company and am excited to help our ecosystem embrace Rubrik and unleash the power of data."

Rubrik raised $261m (£200m) in a funding round earlier this year, which saw its valuation rise to $3.3bn.

Brett Shirk, chief revenue officer at Rubrik, said: "Since day one, Rubrik has employed a 100 per cent channel go-to-market strategy.

"Wendy's extensive enterprise experience and her customer-first approach to sales and channel leadership is a tremendous addition to Rubrik's executive team.

"She will serve as an accelerant for our already-strong sales growth, and the growth of our partners."

Bahr joins Rubrik after an 18-year spell at Cisco, where she held a number of channel roles before becoming SVP of its global partner organisation. She departed the company in November.

Bahr is not the first ex-Cisco employee to find their way to Rubrik. Former CEO John Chambers joined as an adviser to the board last year and welcomed his old colleague into the fold.

"Wendy is hands down one of the most trusted and respected channel executives I have worked with during my career," said Chambers.

"Rubrik has done a fantastic job of capitalising on the shift to cloud and the resulting proliferation of data to become a ‘must-have' software platform for enterprise IT teams.

"The addition of Wendy to Rubrik's leadership team will fuel even greater growth for the company."