Cisco's Warrior Heading To India's Wipro?

As a slew of top Cisco executives are heading for the door, its highly popular Chief Technology Officer Padmasree Warrior is reportedly sought after by one of India's biggest IT service providers, Wipro.

Warrior is being wooed by the $7.5 billion Bangalore-based global solution provider to become a member of its board of directors or in an advisory position, according to The Times of India.

"It makes sense," said Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst at ZK Research. "Wipro has been a large Cisco reseller for years -- she already has a relationship there. The tech industry in India is certainly doing very well. … We're looking at India as being one of the early adopters of the Internet of Things and being a digital economy."

[Related: New Regime: 7 Top Executives Exiting Cisco So Far]

Wipro did not respond to CRN's request for comment for this story before publication.

Earlier this month, incoming Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins unveiled his new "next generation" leadership team, consisting of 10 people. At the same time, the company disclosed that three key executives including Warrior would be leaving the company.

Warrior is set to move into a strategic adviser role within Cisco until September.

"Padmasree going to Wipro is a possibility -- maybe even in more than a board member role," said a top executive solution provider and Cisco partner, who declined to be identified. "She's huge [in India], a very popular figure, and considering how closely tied Wipro is with the Cisco and Padma being the CTO for the last seven years, to me that makes a lot of sense."

Kerravala said he believes Warrior's next position will be either CTO or CEO of a large company.

"She probably will have a number of different offers -- she's a very talented lady, very smart," said Kerravala. "Her next step is CTO at a larger company, which there aren't too many of, or the CEO."

Warrior is a member of the board of directors for The Gap, Box and Thorn as well as a member of the board of trustees at Cornell University, according to her LinkedIn profile. She was also named the 71st most powerful women in the world by Forbes magazine last year.

Warrior is being replaced as chief technology and strategy officer by Hilton Romanski. Romanski was formerly executive vice president, chief development officer at Cisco.

Other Cisco top executives leaving the company include Rob Lloyd, president, development and sales; Gary Moore, president and chief operating officer; Edzard Overbeek, senior vice president for Cisco Services; and Wim Elfrink, executive vice president for industry solutions and chief globalization officer.

PUBLISHED JUNE 29, 2015