Senior Cisco Manager Out in Reshuffle

Cisco Systems Inc. announced a set of executive shifts that include the departure of Kelly Ahuja, an 18-year company veteran who has overseen its sales to communications-service providers.

Yvette Kanouff, another senior vice president who joined Cisco in 2014, will assume Mr. Ahuja's former duties as part of an expanded service-provider organization, the company said Monday.

Other changes include appointing Zorawar Biri Singh, another senior vice president who joined Cisco last year, to lead a cloud services and platforms division. He had previously served as chief technology officer for platforms and solutions.

The moves are the latest sign that Chuck Robbins, who succeeded John Chambers as CEO last summer, is refining the company's leadership team to respond to new market pressures.

Cisco, the biggest maker of networking equipment, faces particular challenges in dealing with service providers that are big buyers of switching and routing gear. The company has lost some market share in routers purchased by service providers, said Ray Mota, managing director of ACG Research, which tracks the sector.

At the same time, some big customers in that industry are adopting new software offerings that require less specialized equipment. While lowering hardware costs is one motivation, a bigger one is the need to more quickly develop new services, Mr. Mota said.

Mr. Mota said he was surprised by Mr. Ahuja's departure, despite what he called "mixed" results in selling to service providers lately.

"That is a tough loss for Cisco," he said.

Another issue is that Pankaj Patel, an executive vice president who has overseen product development, has set plans to leave the company later this year. He will continue to lead networking, market segments and solutions in the meantime, Cisco said.

Ms. Kanouf, who joined Cisco from Cablevision Systems Corp. last September, had been named senior vice president and general manager for cloud solutions. She will report to Mr. Patel in her new position, Cisco said.

In other changes, Liz Centoni was promoted to senior vice president and given responsibility to lead Cisco's computing systems product group. She had been a vice president and chief of staff for engineering.

Write to Don Clark at don.clark@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 21, 2016 20:35 ET (00:35 GMT)

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