Dr. Kristina M. Johnson, CEO of Enduring Hydro, LLC , a clean energy development consulting firm and former United States Department of Energy Under Secretary, also joined Cisco’s board.
Marc Benioff is a 30-year veteran in the software industry. He co-founded Salesforce.com, with an objective to develop an on-demand information management service to replace traditional enterprise technology. Since the establishment of the company in 1999, he served as chairman and chief executive officer of the company. Former President George W. Bush appointed him as co-chairman of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee from 2003 to 2005. Prior to the establishment of Salesforce, Benioff worked at Oracle for 13 years.
Under his management, salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) became the leader in enterprise cloud computing, and recipient of various awards, including World’s Most Innovative Company in 2011 from Forbes, Technology Innovation Award from the Wall Street Journal, and Businessweek’s Top 100 Most Innovative Companies.
On the other hand, Dr. Kristina Johnson is an inventor and entrepreneur. She holds more than 45 U.S. patents and is a recipient of the John Fritz Medal, the highest award in engineering. She is currently a member of the board of directors of the Boston Scientific Corporation and the AES Corporation.
During her term as Under Secretary of Department of Energy, she was responsible in managing energy portfolios worth $10.5 billion, plus $37 billion in energy and environmental investments from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). She also served as provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at The Johns Hopkins University, and dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University.
John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), issued a statement regarding the appointment of Benioff and Johnson to the board of directors of the company. He said, “We are extremely pleased to welcome Marc and Kristina to Cisco’s board of directors. Marc has changed the face of technology through his bold ideas around cloud computing and the social enterprise. Kristina brings us an unmatched expertise in science and technology, which will help guide Cisco as we continue to innovate and transform our customers’ experiences.”
Cisco’s board of directors consists of 14 members. According to analysts, Benioff’s appointment to the Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) board is a strategic move and beneficial, because the company is pushing to boost its cloud computing infrastructure to become one of the leading players in the industry.
