Cisco has appointed David Meads to lead its key UK & Ireland business, with immediate effect. Meads previously led the partner organisation for Cisco in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia (EMEAR).
Meads steps into the role previously held by Scot Gardner, who now leads strategy and sales execution on the Global Specialists team for Cisco's key technology areas across compute, cloud, IoT and service providers.
“The UK represents an important market for Cisco and is at a pivotal point in its digital transformation,” said Cisco. “With the seventh largest economy globally and a strong technology heritage, the nation has an imminent opportunity to improve upon its current ranking as the 13th most digitally-ready in the world.”
Last week, the vendor said the UK market helped stall European growth [https://www.iteuropa.com/news/cisco-blames-uk-decision-delays-q2-europea... in its quarter two results, saying the region would have been “up two points” when stripping out the UK business. The company blamed Brexit uncertainty before the UK eventually left the EU last month and lower public sector sales.
"Technology has the power to help the UK and Ireland accelerate its digital future to advance cultural, economic and social development," said new UK&I chief executive Meads. "I look forward to working with our partners, customers, government and employees to help continue to build an inclusive digital future for both the UK and Ireland."
He has over 30 years of experience in the ICT industry. In his role as vice president of Cisco’s EMEAR partner organisation, Meads was responsible for developing strategic initiatives to help manage and support partners who represent the company’s primary route to market. This remains a focus as he joins the UK and Ireland business, said the supplier, where Cisco has over 4,000 IT partners.
Prior to leading the partner organisation Meads was responsible for Cisco’s business in the Middle East and Africa for a number of years. This followed progression from leading the company’s Africa business and before that, South Africa. Meads is originally from the UK, where he began his career with Cisco in 1996.
