4
Chuck Robbins
Chairman and CEO
2015 – Present
11 years (current)
Legacy
Robbins has led Cisco's fundamental shift from hardware networking products toward recurring software and subscription revenue. The 28 billion dollar Splunk acquisition in 2024 positioned Cisco as a leading security and observability platform vendor. Under Robbins, recurring revenue grew past 50% of total company revenue. He refocused R&D investment toward AI-powered networking, cybersecurity, and cloud management — areas where Cisco increasingly competes against hyperscale cloud providers and pure-play security vendors like CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks.