John Chambers
President and Chief Executive Officer
Cisco Systems, Inc.
John Chambers is president and CEO of Cisco Systems. Since January 1995, when he assumed this position, Chambers has grown the company from US$1.2 billion in annual revenues to its current run-rate of approximately US$24.8 billion.
Chambers has been lauded by government leaders and countless publications worldwide for his visionary strategy, his ability to drive an entrepreneurial culture, and his warm-hearted, straight-talking approach.
Stephen J. Dubner
Best-Selling Author of Freakonomics
Guest Speaker
Stephen J. Dubner is the co-author of the international bestseller, Freakonomics. Published in May 2005, Freakonomics instantly became a cultural phenomenon. Hailed by critics and readers alike, it first topped the sales charts in the U.S. before moving on to the U.K., Canada, India, Brazil, and even Singapore. Dubner and his co-author, the University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt, have appeared widely on television and are now regular contributors to ABC News, appearing monthly on Good Morning America and a segment of World News Tonight called “Freakonomics Friday.” They also write a monthly “Freakonomics” column in The New York Times Magazine and maintain a popular website, www.freakonomics.com which has been called “the most readable economics blog in the universe.”
Charles Giancarlo
Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer, Cisco Systems, Inc. and President, Cisco-Linksys LLC
A twelve-year veteran of Cisco, Chief Development Officer Charles Giancarlo is responsible for the overall strategy and execution of Cisco technology development. Under his leadership, more than 14,000 engineers are innovating in many different areas to advance communications technology. The eight technology groups under Giancarlo’s direction include routing, switching, security, IP communications, wireless networking, storage networking and network management. Cisco technology teams are developing solutions for the enterprise, service provider, small and medium business, and consumer market segments.
In another significant role, Giancarlo is President of Cisco-Linksys LLC, an independent division of Cisco providing wired and wireless products for the high growth consumer and SOHO networking market. Cisco-Linksys is the home networking leader, with a market share of more than 60% and revenues of close to $1 billion. Linksys is expanding its business internationally and among Service Providers, as well as continuing to build market share among the company’s core users.
Keith Goodwin
Senior Vice President, Worldwide Channels
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Keith leads Cisco’s Worldwide Channels organization, responsible for driving Cisco’s global strategy for the company’s 25,000 partners. Nearly 90 percent of Cisco products and services are sold through channel partners. These companies both develop innovative solutions – based on Cisco technology and services – as well as sell Cisco’s broad product and services portfolio to customers worldwide, extending the reach of Cisco’s sales force.
Keith’s team is responsible for developing and implementing strategies and programs that focus on improving overall profitable growth of partners’ Cisco business, as well as making it easier for partners to do business with Cisco.
Steven D. Levitt
Best-Selling Author of Freakonomics
Guest Speaker
Steven Levitt is a much-heralded young scholar, who studies the riddles of everyday life—from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing—and whose conclusions regularly turn conventional wisdom on its head.
In April 2005 his first book, Freakonomics (coauthored with Stephen Dubner), came out and is now a New York Times bestseller. In the book, Levitt sets out to explore the hidden side of…well, everything—the inner-workings of a crack gang, the truth about real-estate agents, the myths of campaign finance, the tell-tale marks of a cheating schoolteacher, the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan and much more. Along with Dubner, Levitt has also started a blog available at www.freakonomics.com, where they discuss their book among other things.
Karl Meulema
Vice President, Services Marketing and Channels
Customer Advocacy
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Karl Meulema is Vice President, Customer Advocacy, Services Marketing and Channels for Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader of networking for the Internet. In his role, Meulema is responsible for creating and managing global service offerings that accelerate time to profitability and differentiation for partners and end customers.
Don Proctor
Senior Vice President
Voice Technology Group
Cisco Systems, Inc.
As Senior Vice President of the Voice Technology Group (VTG) at Cisco Systems, Don Proctor leads a team of world-class voice industry executives who manage Cisco's enterprise voice business units. The
VTG business units are responsible for developing the company’s IP telephony systems, IP phones, customer contact solutions, and unified communications products, including messaging, video and
audioconferencing, and collaboration applications.
James Richardson
Senior Vice President
Commercial Business
Cisco Systems, Inc.
With 16 years at the company in a variety of roles, James Richardson brings a unique understanding of Cisco Systems as the Senior Vice President of the Commercial Business. In this role since January, 2006, Richardson’s primary responsibilities include driving cross-functional initiatives in the commercial market segment. He is responsible for development and implementation of Cisco’s commercial market segment strategy, aligning engineering, service, sales, marketing, IT, and OPS in order to realize the growth potential of this market. Richardson’s outstanding track record for delivering results will propel Cisco’s opportunity in this fastest growing customer segment made up of small and medium-sized businesses as well as midmarket customers with less than 1500 employees.
