Interview with Liz Centoni, EVP, Chief Strategy Officer & GM, Applications at Cisco

February 7, 2023

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Today I am joined by Liz Centoni, EVP, Chief Strategy Officer and General Manager, Applications at Cisco.

As Chief Strategy Officer, Liz Centoni partners with the Executive Leadership team to drive the company’s overall strategic direction. As the General Manager of Applications, Liz is responsible for the business strategy and development efforts for the SaaS portfolio that powers optimized experiences for customers’ applications, which are increasingly central to their businesses in today’s digital, cloud-first world. She also leads a team incubating emerging technologies to create new markets and businesses for Cisco. Liz is a voting member of Cisco’s Investment review board which directs the company’s efforts with startups and the global venture community.

Prior to this role, Liz was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cisco’s Cloud, Compute, and IoT business, where she drove the business and engineering strategy for this global portfolio. Liz was instrumental in developing, executing, and evangelizing Cisco’s IoT portfolio strategy in Industrial IoT, Edge Intelligence, and SaaS-based cellular connectivity platform for devices ranging from Connected Cars to Smart meters, driving it to profitable growth and leading Digital Transformation initiatives. In Cloud and Computing Systems, Liz led the team to define and execute the strategy enabling our customers’ operating model needs in Hybrid Cloud. This included building the SaaS hybrid cloud platform, expanding into adjacent markets such as Hyperconverged and leading the industry in cloud-managed solutions for the compute market.

Liz serves on the Board of Directors for Mercedes-Benz AG and Ingersoll Rand Inc. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Mumbai and an M.B.A. from the University of San Francisco.