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Rob Salvagno

Vice President

Corporate Development and Cisco Investments

In his role as VP of Corporate Development and Cisco Investments, Rob Salvagno is responsible for leading all M&A and venture capital investments for Cisco. He manages Cisco’s strategic venture capital which invests hundreds of millions of dollars annually in the start-up ecosystem, helping anticipate the next set of market transitions, align with disruptive technologies, gain visibility into key geographies, and partner for innovative solutions.

Since joining Cisco in 2001, Rob has challenged the traditional model of corporate development, implementing a holistic strategy to accentuate Cisco’s technology portfolio, instead of individual deals. He led the execution of the $1.2 billion acquisition of cloud networking leader Meraki, one of the most successful platform acquisitions in Cisco’s history, and the $3.7 billion acquisition of AppDynamics, cementing Cisco’s place in the business intelligence, analytics and IT operations market. Most recently, Rob engineered the $2.3 billion acquisition of Duo, the leading provider of unified access security and multi-factor authentication delivered through the cloud.

To optimize external innovation as a mechanism for Cisco’s growth, Rob pioneered the creation of Cisco Investments, one of the most active and entrepreneurial-focused models for corporate venture capital in the industry. He co-architected the spin-ins of Nuova Systems and Insieme, spurring Cisco’s growth in data center and software-defined networking, and led the formation of alpha projects to accelerate cross-company innovation. He also helped develop and accelerate new opportunities in China through the creation of several joint venture projects in the region.

Outside of Cisco, Rob serves as a board observer for Cohesity, an industry-leading enterprise storage company specializing in platforms for hyperconverged secondary storage solutions. Prior to Cisco, Rob was a technology investment banker at U.S. investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

Rob earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University.

Articles

October 28, 2015

8

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire 1 Mainstream; Helping Customers Deliver Outstanding TV Experiences to Any Device

2 min read

In today’s rapidly evolving market, the lines continue to blur between PayTV, such as premium subscription content, and over-the-top (OTT) streaming video service offerings. Service providers, content providers, media companies and broadcasters are all launching services of their own. OTT is fast becoming the new normal, where open, cloud-based technologies allow innovation at a rate […]

October 27, 2015

11

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Acquisition of Lancope to Boost Cisco’s Cybersecurity Threat Defense Capabilities

1 min read

As enterprises digitize their businesses and 50 billion devices come online over the next five years, cyber attackers are perpetually trying to stay one step ahead of these trends and becoming more adept at exploiting security weaknesses and avoiding detection. To help customers address these nascent risks, Cisco is focused on delivering solutions across the […]

October 26, 2015

23

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire ParStream

1 min read

As the burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) becomes a reality, it’s estimated that 50 billion devices and objects will be connected to the Internet by 2020. With this massive number of new connections, valuable data will be created at an even faster pace than most companies can manage. That’s why we are pleased to announce […]

September 30, 2015

6

EXECUTIVE PLATFORM

Cisco to Expand Security Consultancy Services with Acquisition of Portcullis

1 min read

There’s no question that cybersecurity is top-of-mind for Fortune 500 companies. This, compounded by a significant global security talent shortage, contributes to the burgeoning need for security companies to deliver...