Chambers sees Cisco CEO role changing

By Ritsuko Ando

SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O) Chief Executive John Chambers said on Tuesday that the office of the CEO will be less hierarchical in five years, although he has not yet decided on when he would hand over to a successor.

In one of his most candid remarks about the future leadership of the world's top network equipment maker, Chambers told Reuters he envisioned a more collaborative executive suite.

"In terms of how we evolve our entire leadership team, including the office of the CEO, it's very likely to be different five years from now than it was five years ago," Chambers, one of Silicon Valley's longest-serving CEOs, told Reuters in an interview.

"There will probably be a title of CEO, but the next CEO will probably be more a leader of a council than a 'command and control'," said Chambers, 58, who also is Cisco's chairman.

Since Chambers took the CEO role in January 1995, Cisco has grown from a company with $1.2 billion in annual revenues to around $40 billion, as the expansion of the Internet fueled demand for routers and switches that direct Web traffic. Cisco also has been expanding into new areas such as online video.

Many analysts say Cisco has a deep bench of executive talent, but few have been identified as strong CEO candidates.

Two of Cisco's top executives, who were seen by Wall Street as possible successors to Chambers, have left the company in the last year: Michelangelo Volpi quit to join Internet video service Joost, while Charles Giancarlo, who was chief development officer, left for private equity firm Silver Lake.

After Giancarlo's departure, Cisco reorganized management, installing a council of executives instead of appointing a CDO replacement. Chambers said the new structure helped to speed up business decisions and the concept could be applied to the CEO role in the future.