Cisco is now ranked globally as the top technology leader in smart cities and community digital transformation.

As global president of the Cisco Smart+Connected Communities business, Anil Menon drives success by setting the vision and strategy for its Cisco Kinetic for Cities solutions portfolio, for its partner relationships and its investment policies.

Anil has shepherded the Cisco Smart+Connected Communities initiative from a startup within Cisco to a billion dollar business.

Anil's career has been forged at the intersection of business innovation and market disruption. Prior to joining Cisco, Anil was corporate vice president of strategy at IBM, where he held several global functional roles ranging from chief marketing and strategy officer for IBM's global hardware business. Anil managed IBM's corporate transition from a hardware brand to a business technology brand and served on IBM's Strategy Team that helped the company's CEO set overall business and investment strategy. 

Prior to being recruited by IBM in 2001, Anil was a successful tenured professor on the graduate faculty at Emory University Goizueta Business School in Atlanta, Georgia, while also consulting with a number of global blue chip companies.

Anil holds PhDs in marketing strategy and statistics. His doctoral dissertation was funded by the Strategic Planning Council—an international think tank established by GE and the Harvard Business School—on whose executive council Anil later served. Sony Corporation also appointed Anil a Sony Business Fellow during the mid-90s.

Anil is active with the World Economic Forum where he co-chaired its Global Agenda Council on the Future of Cities and also participates in its Future of Health global agenda council. He serves on the board of directors for the Center for Customer Insights at the Yale University School of Management and is on the advisory board for the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University.

Anil resides in Orlando, Florida, but travels extensively worldwide. He is married and the proud father of two daughters. Anil collects 19th century Baluchi carpets and the earliest (1890-1910) Edison cylinder phonographs.