Scott Herren “has been instrumental in driving our transition toward more software and recurring revenue,” Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said.
Cisco Systems CFO Scott Herren (pictured) plans to retire at the end of the company’s current fiscal year on July 26, with Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President Mark Patterson taking on the CFO role July 27.
Herren joined the vendor in 2020 and “has been instrumental in driving our transition toward more software and recurring revenue,” Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said Wednesday during the networking and security vendor’s fiscal 2025 third quarter earnings call.
Patterson has been with Cisco for about 25 years, holding leadership roles in finance, strategy and operations.
“The breadth of his experience, along with his deep knowledge of Cisco and our customers, partners and investor community, uniquely positioned him to help accelerate Cisco’s growth in this new role,” Robbins said.
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Along with the CFO transition, Robbins told analysts on the call that Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel received a promotion, going from CPO and executive vice president to CPO and president.
Cisco CFO Change
Before Herren became Cisco’s CFO in 2020, he served as CFO of Autodesk for about six years, according to his LinkedIn account. His resume includes about 15 years with Citrix Systems, leaving the cloud and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) vendor in 2014 with the title of senior vice president of finance.
Patterson started with Cisco in 2000 through the acquisition of IPmobile, according to his LinkedIn account. Titles he’s held throughout his Cisco tenure include Robbins’ chief of staff and senior vice president of strategy, planning and operations.
Patel has been with Cisco for about five years, starting in 2021 as executive vice president and general manager for the security and collaboration business units. His resume includes about five years with Box, leaving in 2020 with the title of chief product officer and chief strategy officer, according to his LinkedIn account.
Other recent notable Cisco leadership transitions this year include the departure of Gary Steele, Cisco’s president of go-to-market and former CEO of Cisco subsidiary Splunk.
Luxy Thuraisingam, Cisco’s head of global partner marketing for the last four years, also left the company while Oliver Tuszik, former global channel chief and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) president, became executive vice president of global sales.
