John Chambers: Cisco CEO And Chairman

John Thomas Chambers was born on August 23, 1949 in Cleveland, Ohio. The family resided in Kanawha City, West Virginia. John’s father was an obstetrician while his mother was a psychiatrist. Having highly skilled parents is certainly an advantaged. John was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was nine years old. Fortunately he learned to cope with his disability with the aid of a therapist.

John enrolled at the School of Engineering at Duke University from 1967 to 1968. He earned his degree in business and a law degree at West Virginia University and an MBA in finance and management from Indiana University.

Armed with an MBA degree John started his career in technology sales at IBM from 1976 to 1982. He then moved to Wang Laboratories in 1982. John was appointed Vice President of U.S. Operations in 1987. While his career may have been in an upward trajectory, Wang Laboratories was having a different fate. The company’s profit in 1989 reached $2 billion only to experience a $700 million loss the following year. In 1990 John left Wang and joined Cisco in 1991. This was a pivotal move on his part and for Cisco as well.

Cisco was essentially a startup having been founded in 1983. John came in as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Operations. By 1995 he was promoted to President and CEO. John was elected Chairman of the Board in 2006 aside from his role as CEO.

John has helped grow Cisco from $70 million when he joined the company to $1.2 billion when he became CEO to a record-breaking $48.6 billion in 2013.

His outstanding leadership has been cited by many organizations. In 2012 he received the Bower Award for Business Leadership from the Franklin Institute, Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People, “CEO of the Year” by Chief Executive Magazine, and more. Under his stewardship Cisco has been named to Fortune’s “America’s Most Company” list since 1999.