Cisco announces appointment of Next-Generation Leaders in India

To accelerate Cisco’s momentum in India by strengthening its focus on innovation to lead market transitions the company has announced the next generation of its leadership. The new leadership comprises Dinesh Malkani, President – Sales for India & SAARC; Amit Phadnis, President – Engineering & India Site Leader; and V. C. Gopalratnam (Gopal), President – Strategy, Planning and Operations, India and CIO, Asia-Pacific & Japan and Greater China.

Dinesh Malkani takes over from Jeff White and will report to Irving Tan, Cisco’s President, Asia- Pacific & Japan. India is at the heart of Cisco’s emerging markets strategy, and Dinesh will lead the company’s efforts to help transform the country’s economy through technology. He will drive Cisco's senior level external engagement, including those with government and industry associations, to drive growth and market leadership in India and SAARC.

Amit Phadnis as the new India Site Leader will lead Cisco’s focus on innovation, ecosystem and talent development in the country. Amit will drive the India Site charter, focussing on strengthening the interlock between Cisco’s teams, including engineering and sales, and customers, while aligning the company’s India site strategy with evolving customer and partner needs. As part of his focus on the India site, Amit will drive the university relations strategy, employee engagement and talent development for the employee base in India. Another major focus area for Amit is developing the Engineering and Independent Software Vendor (ISV) partner ecosystems. In addition to this role, Amit leads the Enterprise Engineering portfolio in India and will continue to report into the organization led by Rob Soderbery, Senior Vice- President & General Manager of the Enterprise Networking Group in the US.

V. C. Gopalratnam (Gopal) will take on the newly-created role of President of Strategy, Planning and Operations for Cisco India, in addition to his role as CIO for Asia-Pacific, Japan and Greater China. Gopal will help create better synergies between Cisco’s internal IT organization and the company’s technology roadmap as well as drive infrastructure development and operations to facilitate growth and productivity. Gopal will work closely with the university relations team in shaping curricula to help produce next-generation industry ready talent. He will also oversee enablement of Cisco’s priorities of inclusion and diversity (I&D), employee volunteering and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Gopal will continue to report to Rebecca Jacoby, Cisco’s global CIO. Gopal also serves on the board of the Cisco Foundation.

Irving Tan, President, Asia-Pacific and Japan, said, “Cisco remains committed to the development of strong local leadership in the region, and it, therefore, gives me immense pleasure to welcome Dinesh, Amit and Gopal into their new roles as the next-generation leadership of Cisco India. With their deep industry experience, the three leaders will lead greater integration between sales, engineering and other functions at the India site, which will ensure stronger commitment to our customers, partners and employees.”

In India, over the next few years, a key priority for Cisco is to be a transformational partner to the government and help build an ecosystem that brings technology and services into villages, and benefits the masses. The new leadership team will drive this agenda through sustained engagement with customers and external influencers; delivery of relevant products, services, and solutions; and an ongoing focus on local innovation and engineering to offer business