Working with Rachel Barger

Henley reports to Rachel Barger (pictured), Cisco’s senior vice president of Americas sales.

Barger, an alumna of SAP, joined Cisco in 2020 with an eye for accelerating Cisco’s software and services business. Henley said she admires how Barger has built credibility with Cisco engineers, partners and customers as the company embraces managed services and cloud.

“I’m just excited by the energy that she brings and expanding our mindset. We have over the past couple of years been driving more and more of our portfolio toward recurring revenue, software and  life cycle, and we have been doing that steadily, and [CEO] Chuck [Robbins] talks about it in earnings calls quite frequently,” Henley said.

“But bringing in a leader at that level who’s coming from a native software provider – it’s like it’s on steroids now. And I think we’re all learning from her as well as enjoying working with her.”

Barger gave Henley a shout-out in a recent LinkedIn post. 

“… Rhonda’s varied and deep relationships with Cisco partners – as well as her experience across a range of Cisco teams – make her the perfect person to help Cisco, our partners, and our customers seize the growth opportunities ahead,” Barger wrote.