An Inside Look – When Politics and Business Collide

Abstract: On February 24, 2022, Russian troops entered Ukraine in an unprovoked attack on a sovereign democratic country. As a global, purpose driven company, Cisco immediately took the stance to support the people and institutions of Ukraine and stop all business operations, including sales and services, in Russia and Belarus.
 
This was a complex, fast-moving situation, requiring the senior leadership team to quickly work through the implications for its employees, business and how best to support its customers and partners in the region. No business course or resiliency plan prepared them for a situation like this. During this session, Scott Herren, Cisco CFO, will walk through the following difficult questions the Cisco team faced and the actions they took:
  

• What actions can we take as a global corporate citizen to support the people and institutions of Ukraine?
• What does this mean for our people in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus and how can we support them?
• What is the ethical way to support our customers and partners as we close our business in Russia and Belarus while remaining compliant with the sanctions instituted by the US, UK, and EU?
• What does this mean for our business as we disassemble our business operations in Russia and Belarus?

Bio: Scott Herren is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Cisco, managing the financial strategy, global finance organization, procurement, and mergers/ acquisitions and integrations for the company with total revenue for fiscal year 2022 of $51.6 billion and 83,300 employees. Prior to joining Cisco in 2020, Scott served as CFO at Autodesk, and held senior level positions at Citrix Systems, FedEx, and IBM. Scott serves on the board of directors and chairs the Audit Committee for Rubrik. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of the Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), the College of Engineering, and the Georgia Tech Advisory Board (GTAB). He holds a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance from Columbia University.

In-person talk with virual meeting option.
For those attending, lunch will be served for free.

Zoom Meeting Link:
https://gatech.zoom.us/j/93281842999?pwd=VU5pRms2QjcxRWRZOERaQ0RJbUhZQT09