Cisco chief John Chambers lists possible successors
Comments by veteran John Chambers underscore new openness to change at the top
Cisco Systems chief executive officer John Chambers has identified some of the senior managers who he and the board are considering as possible successors when he retires, a move that could come in two to four years.
He said this week there were as many as 10 candidates and directors reviewed the list quarterly.
They include Gary Moore, chief operating officer; Robert Lloyd, executive vice-president of worldwide operations; Chuck Robbins, senior vice-president of the Americas; and Edzard Overbeek, senior vice-president of global services.
Chambers, 63, has been chief executive at Cisco since 1995, one of the longest tenures in the quickly shifting technology industry, and his remarks on succession underscore new openness to change at the top of the company.
He navigated Cisco through a rise that briefly made it the world's most valuable company. He also guided it through the dotcom bust, the recent economic crisis and the advent of a fresh crop of competitors.
"You begin to look at how these transitions occur, and the job of the board and myself is to make sure this next one goes really smooth," Chambers said. "Assuming the board wants me to, and assuming the shareholders do, I'll stay on as chairman after that."
Chambers ordered a management overhaul last year to stem profit-margin erosion and win back business lost to such competitors as Juniper Networks and Hewlett-Packard. He said leadership changes were helping Cisco, the biggest maker of routers and switches that shuffle data traffic, prepare for a new chief.
