Photo courtesy of the World Economic Forum
With Cisco‘s announcement today that it would be appointing Chuck Robbins as the company’s next CEO, CDN decided to look back on the career of current-CEO John Chambers, of which two decades consisted of helming the networking giant.
Read more: Cisco names Chuck Robbins as new CEO
Chambers first entered the tech industry at 27 years old in 1976 with a role at IBM.
At 34, he moved to Wang Laboratories, where he later became the Vice President of U.S. Operations in 1987. However, between 1989 and 1990, Wang went from $2 billion in profits to $700 million in losses.
In 1990, at 42-years old, Chambers left to join Cisco first as as senior vice president of worldwide sales and operations until 1994, when he became VP of worldwide operations until 1995.
Then in 1995, he was named CEO at the age of 46 years old. In the two decades since, the company has grown from $70 million in annual revenue to $46 billion. Chambers also took on the role of chairman on Cisco’s board of directors in 2006.
With the announcement Monday, Chambers will continue his role as CEO and chairman until July 26, at which time he will be replaced by Robbins. Upon leaving his role as CEO, Chambers will become the executive chairman of Cisco’s board of directors.
