Indian-origin Pankaj Patel in Cisco's new executive leadership team

India-origin Pankaj Patel is soon going to join the executive leadership team of global IT giant Cisco, which has restructured its top management recently under the guidance of CEO Chuck Robbins. Patel has studied engineering at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) in India, according to an Economic Times report.

Patel, 60, will continue to lead Cisco's development engineers and the company's $36-billion technology portfolio. The Indian-origin engineer, who joined the company in 1996, leads a global team of about 28,000 people.

He already served the American company as a senior vice-president and general manager for its service provider business. He was responsible for the Cisco IGX product line and software development for all Cisco ATM switches, the company said on its website.

Patel joined Cisco through its acquisition of Stratacom. Patel also holds a master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

He was a founding leader of Cisco’s first multi-service access business unit, developing strategy for access routers and voice-over-packet technology and delivery.
(Image: Indiatimes)