Heard in the Halls: Edison Peres Leaving Cisco?

Is longtime Cisco Systems (CSCO) channel chief Edison Peres leaving the company? That’s what was whispered in my ear during CompTIA ChannelCon 2015. The move from Cisco would certainly make sense. Here’s why:

When Chuck Robbins was tapped to succeed John Chambers earlier this year, it wasn’t long before executives started playing Musical Chairs and Odd-Man Out. Within a month of his appointment, Robbins announced his executive team, and some well-known names—including Chambers’ heir apparents Rob Lloyd and Padmasree Warrior—were not included. What also wasn’t included was information about Robbins’s plans for Cisco’s worldwide channel organization, of which Peres has spent the majority of his career at the company.

Peres currently is senior vice president of Cisco’s Cloud and Managed Services Partner Organization, a role he moved into last year. Previously, he was senior vice president of Worldwide Channels, a role now held by Wendy Bahr upon Bruce Klein’s departure in July. Although Cisco is putting a lot of muscle behind its cloud efforts, I would imagine that for Peres, it’s not the same as running a worldwide partner organization. (Granted, his move occurred before Chambers stepped down, but when you leave and breathe channel sales for so long, it can be difficult to change horses midstream.)

According to those voices buzzing in my ear, his retirement (yes, retirement) could be announced as early as Friday. And between the executive-level changes and his change in leadership role, I don’t blame Peres for trading the corporate life for a sunny beach.

Whatever Peres decides to do, I wish him the best of luck.