John Chambers Biography and Photos

John Chambers is President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. He joined the company as the second in command when Cisco had $70 million in annual sales and a market cap of $600 million. During the past four plus years as President and CEO*, Chambers has grown the company from $1.2 billion in annual revenues to its current run-rate of $14 billion by establishing leadership in key technology sectors of the networking industry and aggressively pursuing new market opportunities.

Silicon Valley's hometown publication, Upside Magazine, recently ranked John Chambers as "the top titan of the digital world." Worth Magazine named John Chambers the #2 CEO in America in April 1999. For the second time in three years, Business Week has named Chambers one of the top 25 executives worldwide. Chambers was also designated "CEO of the Year" for 1997 in a poll of industry executives conducted by Electronic Business magazine. Widely recognized as one of the most innovative and dynamic leaders in global business today, Mr. Chambers is a member of President Clinton's Committee for Trade Policy.

At a recent White House event, President Clinton and Vice President Gore referred to Cisco as "one of the most respected companies, not only in [the networking] field, but in any field" and described Chambers as "a true leader in this industry, in America's economy and in the global economy."

Just fifteen years ago, Cisco Systems did not exist. Today, Cisco is the fastest growing company in the history of the computer industry. With a market cap of more than $200 billion after only fifteen years in business, Cisco is among the ten highest valued companies in the world.

Cisco is also the best example of a company that has made the most of the Internet's vast opportunities to gain a sustainable, competitive advantage. In 1997, Cisco did one-third of the world's electronic commerce. Today, over 80% of the company's orders are transacted over the Internet. In 1998, Forbes ASAP designated Cisco as the country's most dynamic company and Fortune calls Cisco one of the 25 best companies to work for in the U.S. Network World rated Cisco 'thee most powerful company' and John Chambers 'thee most powerful CEO in the industry.' And, this year, Cisco was ranked #1 and described as the "most intelligently Net-savvy company going" by Business 2.0 in its report on the "Top 100 Hottest Companies on the Net".

Prior to joining Cisco, Mr. Chambers spent eight years at Wang Laboratories and six years with IBM. Mr. Chambers holds an M.B.A. degree in finance and management from Indiana University. He later received a J.D. degree and B.S./B.A. degree in business from West Virginia University.

Through vision and innovation, Cisco and its leaders have built the Internet, and by doing so, have empowered an Internet Generation.

* Chambers was named President and CEO on November 15, 1994. His position became official in January 1995.

Chambers holds an M.B.A. degree in finance and management from Indiana University. He received a J.D. degree and a B.S./B.A. degree in business from West Virginia University.

He and his wife, Elaine, reside in Los Altos Hills, California. His daughter, Lindsay, is a college sophomore and his son, John, is a high school senior.