Chuck Robbins

Chuck Robbins
Born1965 or 1966 (age 60–61)
Grayson, Georgia, U.S.
EducationUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (BMath)
OccupationBusinessman
TitleChairman and CEO, Cisco Systems
Board member of
BlackRock
Children4

Charles H. Robbins (born 1965 or 1966) is an American businessman. He is the chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems.

Early life

Robbins was born in Grayson, Georgia, and educated at Rocky Mount High School in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. In 1987, he earned a Bachelor of Mathematics degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Career

Robbins began his career as an application developer for North Carolina National Bank (now part of Bank of America). He joined Wellfleet Communications followed by a brief tenure at Ascend Communications before joining Cisco in 1997.

Robbins filled various posts at Cisco, including senior vice president of the Americas and senior vice president of Worldwide Field Operations, a role in which he led Cisco's Worldwide Sales and Partner Organizations and built out Cisco's partnership program.

In May 2015, Cisco announced that CEO and chairman John Chambers would step down as CEO in July 2015 while remaining as chairman. Robbins, then a senior vice president, was named as his successor. Mentored by Chambers, Robbins was unanimously voted in as the company's new chief executive, becoming CEO of Cisco Systems in July 2015.

As CEO, Robbins became noted for accelerating the pace of Cisco's modern growth, while disrupting outdated working modes, promoting employee trust based in transparency of policy and process, and humanitarian policies and workplace diversity.

Robbins has advocated for corporate social responsibility. However, in 2018, he said that talk of corporate social responsibility is becoming obsolete and just expected of "corporate icons."

In 2018, as the GDPR came into effect, Robbins called for more regulation and for the tech industry to help educate regulators. In February 2019, Robbins promoted the need for comprehensive global privacy legislation, asserting privacy as “a fundamental human right."

In 2019, Robbins advocated against a 15% increase on tariffs for Chinese goods.

In 2023, Robbins's total compensation at Cisco was $31.8 million, up 37% from the previous year and representing a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 267-to-1. For 2024, Robbins's total compensation from Cisco was $38.2 million.

Boards and affiliations

Robbins serves the World Economic Forum as the chair for the IT Governors Steering Committee and as a member of the International Business Council. He is a member of the Ford Foundation board of trustees. He is a director for BlackRock and for The Business Roundtable where he chairs the Immigration Committee.

In 2018, Robbins authored a statement on behalf of Business Roundtable that applauded bipartisan lawmakers working to reform immigration policies, while urging the White House "Administration to end immediately the policy of separating accompanied minors from their parents," decrying the practice as "cruel and contrary to American values."

Robbins spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2016, 2017, 2018, at the 2019 WEF annual general meeting, as well as the 2024 annual meeting.

He has been a board member of the MS Society of Northern California, a member of the Advisory Board of Georgia Tech, and a member of the International Council for the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. He is also a member of the 2019 class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Robbins also serves as honorary counsel to Destination: Home, a non-profit organization devoted to ending homelessness in Santa Clara County, where Cisco's headquarters is located.

Personal life

Robbins is a fan of North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball and participates in social media. He is married with four children and lives in Los Gatos, California.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Q&A: Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco Systems". July 30, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 Brown, Bob (May 4, 2015). "New Cisco CEO: Meet the real Chuck Robbins". Network World. Archived from the original on May 6, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  3. 1 2 "The Path Forward: America's Digital Infrastructure with Chuck Robbins, Chair & CEO, Cisco". June 16, 2021. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  4. 1 2 Berman, Nat (2016). "Chuck Robbins: 10 Things You Didn't Know about Cisco's CEO". MoneyInc.com. Money Inc. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Cisco's Chambers to step down as CEO, to be executive chairman". Reuters. May 4, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  6. ↑ Frangos, Cassandra (2018). Crack the C-Suite Code: How Successful Leaders Make It to the Top. Wharton Digital Press. pp. 9–17. ISBN 9781613630853.
  7. ↑ Weinberger, Matt (January 19, 2019). "Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins tells us how he led the $200 billion company to growth when everybody expected it to get crushed in the cloud wars". Business insider. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  8. ↑ Poletti, Therese (September 18, 2017). "Cisco is Chuck Robbins's company now, for better or worse". Market Watch. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  9. ↑ Frangos, Cassanda (December 3, 2018). "Making Leadership Last: How Long-Tenure CEOs Stand Their Ground". Forbes. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  10. ↑ LinkedIn (April 10, 2019). "Chuck Robbins: How Cisco Brings Radical Transparency Into the Workplace". Retrieved June 28, 2019 – via YouTube.
  11. ↑ Robbins, Chuck (January 24, 2019). "10% of the world lives on $2 a day. It's time for businesses to step up". CNN. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  12. ↑ Shontell, Alyson (January 18, 2017). "Cisco CEO reveals what happened at the 'interactive' Trump Tower tech meeting with Silicon Valley power players". Business Insider. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  13. ↑ Jenkins, Aric (October 15, 2018). "Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins on Why Corporate Social Responsibility Is Becoming Obsolete". Fortune. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  14. ↑ Moorhead, Patrick. "Cisco's CSR Program Under CEO Chuck Robbins Is Flourishing". Forbes. Retrieved January 16, 2025.
  15. ↑ Jenkins, Aric. "Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins on Why Corporate Social Responsibility Is Becoming Obsolete". Fortune. Retrieved January 16, 2025.
  16. ↑ Bort, Julie (February 7, 2019). "Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins calls for a federal privacy law, throwing a spear at internet companies who sell advertising". Business Insider. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  17. ↑ Gmelich, Krista (January 17, 2019). "Cisco CEO Warns Higher Tariffs Will Force Companies to Cut R&D". Bloomberg. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  18. ↑ Quick, Becky; Kernan, Andrew (February 8, 2019). "Watch CNBC's full interview with Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins". CNBC.com. Squawk Box (CNBC). Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  19. ↑ "Equilar 100: CEO Pay at the Largest Companies by Revenue". Equilar. June 7, 2024. Archived from the original on August 15, 2024. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
  20. ↑ Batish, Amit (May 1, 2025). "Equilar 100: A Snapshot of the Highest-Paid CEOs in 2024". Equilar. Archived from the original on June 19, 2025. Retrieved October 27, 2025.
  21. 1 2 "Charles H. Robbins". WeForum.org. World Economic Forum. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  22. ↑ "Charles H. Robbins". FordFoundation.org. Ford Foundation. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  23. ↑ Fuchs, Hailey (September 14, 2023). "Cisco CEO named Business Roundtable chair". Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  24. ↑ Krouse, Joann S. Lublin and Sarah (April 5, 2017). "Cisco's CEO to Join BlackRock's Board". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  25. ↑ Murray, Alan (June 20, 2019). "'This Is a Fundamental Issue:' Why Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins Challenged Trump on Border Separations". Fortune. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  26. ↑ Robbins, Chuck (June 19, 2019). "Business Roundtable Statement on Immigration". Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  27. ↑ "World Economic Forum Annual Meeting". WeForum.org. World Economic Forum. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  28. ↑ Bloomberg, Jason (January 23, 2018). "'Reskilling' Top Of Mind At World Economic Forum In Davos". Forbes. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  29. ↑ "Cisco CEO Robbins Sees 'High Degree of Optimism' Among CEOs". Bloomberg. January 23, 2019. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  30. ↑ "American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2019 FELLOWS AND INTERNATIONAL HONORARY MEMBERS WITH THEIR AFFILIATIONS AT THE TIME OF ELECTION". Archived from the original on April 10, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  31. ↑ Dickey, Megan Rose (March 26, 2018). "Cisco commits $50 million to end homelessness in Silicon Valley". Techcrunch.com. Tech Crunch. Retrieved June 28, 2019.

Media related to Chuck Robbins at Wikimedia Commons