Microsoft Alum Rodney Clark to Lead Global Cisco Partner Sales

CISCO PARTNER SUMMIT — Cisco Systems has appointed Rodney Clark, of Microsoft and IBM tenure, to head its global partner sales.

Cisco chief partner officer Jeff Sharritts announced in a blog Monday that Clark will lead Cisco's global partner ecosystem. That includes overseeing managed services, cloud marketplaces and SMB.

Cisco's Rodney Clark

Clark steps into a channel leader role vacated by Oliver Tuszik in August. Their titles look slightly different. Clark will serve as senior vice president of partnerships and small and medium business. Tuszik was senior vice president of global partner sales and general manager of routes to market.

"Approximately 90% of our annual bookings run through our partners, and Rodney is the perfect leader to drive our next phase of growth," Sharritts wrote. "Our ecosystem of partners is not only our single biggest advantage in the market, but it’s also fundamental to our transformation strategy."

After a 24-year stint at Microsoft, Clark departed from the company in May 2022. Soon he took the position of chief commercial officer at Johnson Controls.

Rodney Clark: Departure from Johnson Controls

Last week Clark announced on LinkedIn that he was leaving Johnson Controls.

"The company purpose of building smart, healthy and sustainable futures has been a great source of pride for me. An even greater source of pride for me has been our commercial team, our accomplishments and the results we have driven and enabled for the company. You have shown what it means to be customer and partner obsessed, you’ve built incredible cross-company processes and connections and you have supported each other toward growth — both the company’s and your own," Clark wrote.

Clark worked in sales and marketing at IBM for nine years. Those experiences will come in handy, Sharritts said.

Cisco's Jeff Sharritts

"Rodney has a great deal of knowledge and respect for everything that Cisco and its ecosystem of partners have accomplished together in 25-plus years … but he has a bold vision for our future. To succeed in this role, you have to understand our legacy, but you can’t be beholden to it. Rodney will bring that perspective."

Tuszik spent about five years leading Cisco's channel sales before taking over the company's EMEA business.