Lavanya Gopalakrishnan

As Senior Vice President of Customer Success at Cisco, Lavanya Gopalakrishnan leads a global organization dedicated to helping customers realize the full value of their Cisco investments. A transformative technology leader, she is recognized for driving impactful customer outcomes, building high-performing global teams, and inspiring innovation at scale. Lavanya has more than 25 years of experience spanning engineering, business strategy, supply chain operations, and professional services, and has pioneered global centers of excellence that drive consistency, efficiency, and growth worldwide. Lavanya previously led the Global Customer Success Specialists organization, delivering measurable customer value and exceptional partner experiences. She has held key leadership positions within Cisco’s Customer Experience, Professional Services, and Support, and earlier served in engineering and supply chain operations roles at Cisco, Ciena, and Nortel Networks. She also co-authored several publications and journal articles. A passionate advocate for women in STEM, Lavanya serves as the executive sponsor of Cisco's Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) in North America, as well as the Bay Area Chapter of Women of Cisco. She has also mentored technology talent on the board of N/Core, The/Nudge Centre for Social Innovation, a non-profit incubator dedicated to solving India’s most pressing challenges. Lavanya holds a Master of Science in Systems Science Engineering from Binghamton University, a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from BITS Pilani in India, and is a Wharton University of Pennsylvania Aresty Scholar and certified ITIL Expert.