In another major leadership shakeup for Cisco, Gary Steele, the tech giant’s president of go-to-market, is leaving the company in the spring.
Gary Steele, Cisco’s president of go-to-market of less than a year, is resigning as of April 25.
The longtime tech executive is pursuing a CEO position outside of the company, Cisco revealed on Wednesday.
The move, which marks another substantial change in the company’s executive leadership ranks within the last two years, comes as Cisco is in the middle of a major technology transformation as it focuses its energies on AI and boosting its profile in the security space.
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Following the close of the $28 billion Splunk acquisition, Cisco added former Splunk CEO Gary Steele to its ranks as its president of go-to-market in May 2024. That move was followed by Jeetu Patel, formerly Cisco’s executive vice president and general manager of security and collaboration, being promoted to chief product officer in August.
Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said that Steele’s leadership was “instrumental” in the integration between Splunk and Cisco. The integration has been very successful, with revenues in line with Cisco’s expectations, Robbins said.
“During his time as our president of go-to-market, [Steele] also helped evolve our sales and go-to-market motions to drive growth and align with the needs of our customers and partners today and for the future. I want to thank [Steele] for his partnership, leadership, and unwavering commitment since we announced our intent to acquire Splunk 18 months ago,” Robbins said during the company’s Q2 2025 earnings call on Wednesday evening.
The company is immediately launching an internal and external search for a new go-to-market leader. Meanwhile, Steele will stay with Cisco until the company’s third fiscal quarter to ensure a smooth transition, Robbins said.
The company’s product revenues, which is led by the core networking business, increased 29 percent including Splunk during Cisco’s Q2 2025.
Cisco in 2024 began reshuffling responsibilities across its executive leadership team beginning with the company’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, Maria Martinez, leaving the company last February. In March, Liz Centoni, executive vice president and general manager of applications and chief strategy officer, was named executive vice president and chief customer experience officer. Thimaya Subaiya, the company’s chief transformation officer, became executive vice president of operations. Mark Patterson, chief of staff to Robbins, became executive vice president and chief strategy officer.
