Pankaj Patel is Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer at Cisco. He is responsible for leading the development and execution of Cisco's $36.3 billion technology portfolio across a global team of more than 28,000 employees. He also helps define Cisco's technology innovation strategy to transform how people connect, communicate and collaborate through integrated hardware and software platforms and architectures from Cisco's routing, switching, security, mobility, video, collaboration, data center and cloud offerings.

In previous roles at Cisco, Patel served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for the company's service provider business, which achieved market segment leadership in routing,...

Pankaj Patel is Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer at Cisco. He is responsible for leading the development and execution of Cisco's $36.3 billion technology portfolio across a global team of more than 28,000 employees. He also helps define Cisco's technology innovation strategy to transform how people connect, communicate and collaborate through integrated hardware and software platforms and architectures from Cisco's routing, switching, security, mobility, video, collaboration, data center and cloud offerings.

In previous roles at Cisco, Patel served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for the company's service provider business, which achieved market segment leadership in routing, video and mobility under his leadership. He was a founding leader of Cisco's first multi-service access business unit, developing strategy for access routers and voice-over-packet technology and delivery. He was also responsible for the Cisco IGX product line and software development for all Cisco ATM switches. Patel joined Cisco through the company's acquisition of Stratacom in 1996.

Previously, Patel was Senior Vice President of Engineering at Redback Networks, where he was responsible for the development and delivery of all Redback products. Earlier in his career, Patel founded a consulting company focused on application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design, software, and CAD tools. Customers included EMC, Hewlett-Packard, and other major corporations that looked to Patel's firm to design ASIC technologies for their computing, storage and networking products. He also held various senior management positions at Apollo Computer/HP and Digital Equipment Corporation.

Patel is an industry member of the Dean's Advisory Committee of UCLA's School of Engineering; serves on the California State University Professional Science Master's Executive Board; is a member of eASIC's Board of Directors; and maintains ongoing involvement in Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering. He also serves on the Board of Directors of The Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute, which is dedicated to catalyzing and accelerating the discovery, development, and delivery of new and more effective treatment options for lung cancer patients.

Patel holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India, and a master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2003, he was awarded a patent in the area of multi-service architecture.