An Indian Might Be The Next CEO: Cisco Chief


An Indian Might Be The Next CEO: Cisco Chief

Bangalore: Sixty - three year old John Chambers, the present Chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems, who may step down in the next two-to-four years says that there are two strong Indian ‘superstars’ who may succeed his post.

According to Chambers, Padmasree Warrior, CTO & chief strategy officer and Pankaj Patel, executive vice-president & chief development officer are the ones among the many to take up the post. While Warrior has led the company through 15 acquisitions in her term, Patel has emerged as an able leader across all engineering teams.

John Chambers took his position in 1995 when Cisco earned just $1.3 billion. Since then, he has been guiding the $46 billion or ‘the world’s most valuable’ networking giant throughout its rise, fall and rebirth after the infamous dotcom crash in 2000.

In the near future, around 30 percent of the workforce will be put-up in India, up from one sixth at present. Six years ago, there were only 1400 people, whereas today the number has grown up to 11,300. The board has shortlisted ten eligible candidates for the post, which will be reviewed every quarter.

In his two day visit to India, Chambers met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, IT Minister Kapil Sibal and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma. He emphasized on local and central governments to work in sync for broadband saying that it served great potential to education, healthcare and also created more jobs in urban and rural sectors.

He also added that broadband is the way to a new educational delivery system, assisting doctors and nurses in remote areas and creating apps economy within the country.

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