Chuck Robbins

Charles H. Robbins is an American businessman, and the chairman and chief executive officer of Cisco Systems, Inc.(CSCO)

Career

Robbins began his career as an application developer for North Carolina National Bank, (now part of Bank of America). After five years, he then joined Wellfleet Communications, which merged with SynOptics to become Bay Networks, followed by a brief tenure at Ascend Communications, before joining Cisco, in 1997. 

At Cisco, Robbins filled various posts, including senior vice president of the Americas and senior vice president of Worldwide Field Operations, a role in which he led Cisco's Worldwide Sales and Partner Organizations, and built out Cisco's partnership program.

In May 2015, Cisco announced that the CEO and chairman John Chambers would step down as CEO in July 2015, while remaining as chairman. Robbins, then a senior vice president, was named as his successor. Mentored by Chambers; Robbins was unanimously voted in as the company's new chief executive, becoming CEO of Cisco Systems in July 2015.

As CEO, Robbins became noted for accelerating the pace of Cisco's modern growth, while disrupting outdated working modes; promoting employee trust based in transparency of policy and process; and humanitarian policies and workplace diversity.

In 2018, as the GDPR came into effect, Robbins called for more regulation and for the tech industry to help educate regulators. In February 2019, Robbins promoted the need for comprehensive global privacy legislation, asserting privacy as “a fundamental human right."

Robbins advocated against a 15% increase on tariffs for Chinese goods.Robbins has advocated for corporate social responsibility. In March 2018, Cisco pledged to donate $50M to Destination: Home, an organization devoted to ending homelessness in Santa Clara County, where Cisco's headquarters is located; Robbins serves as honorary counsel to the NPO.