Cisco parts ways with chief strategy officer

Cisco Systems Inc.'s chief strategy officer Ned Hooper, once considered a top contender to be CEO, is leaving and will be replaced by chief technology officer Padmasree Warrior, the company said Tuesday on its Website.

Mr. Hooper, a 13-year Cisco veteran, oversaw the $3.4-billion deal for Norwegian video conferencing company Tandberg as well as the $5-billion acquisition of the pay-TV smartcard maker NDS, a deal which has not yet closed. Ms. Warrior, who joined Cisco in 2007 from Motorola, will remain CTO in addition to her new role.

"Now the time is right for us to drive the next phase of our organizational evolution," Cisco's Chief Executive John Chambers said in a blog post on Tuesday.

Pankaj Patel will take over Cisco's engineering organization, a job he used to share with Ms. Warrior.

The networking equipment maker, which Chief Executive John Chambers a year ago admitted had "lost its way" after several quarters of sub-par growth, has been challenged by rivals such as Hewlett-Packard Co. and Juniper Networks in recent quarters.

Cisco's shares fell 10 cents or 0.6 per cent to $16.83 on Tuesday.