CSCO: Dan Scheinman to Head Cisco Media Solutions Group

Cisco® today announced that Dan Scheinman will lead the newly formed Cisco Media Solutions Group, which will be responsible for developing and marketing infrastructure products that will help digital media content owners improve the content experience for consumers. Scheinman, who most recently served as senior vice president of Corporate Development, will be senior vice president and general manager of this new organization and reporting directly to John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco.

"The consumer and entertainment content markets are examples of markets being disrupted by digital technology and broadband. We're entering a new golden age for the consumer who is now being empowered with the choice to access content at anytime, anywhere, on any device," Scheinman said. "The charter of the Cisco Media Solutions Group is to help accelerate this market and technology transition by working with content providers and other digital media companies to ensure the highest-quality experience for the end-user."

Scheinman has been with Cisco for 14 years. Most recently, as head of Corporate Development, Scheinman charted the strategy for and led a world-class organization through more than 40 acquisitions including high-profile and foundational purchases of Linksys and Scientific-Atlanta. These acquisitions have been instrumental in helping familiarize consumers of home networking and entertainment technologies with Cisco and for creating new growth opportunities for the company. They will also help Cisco utilize networking as a transformation tool to shape and greatly enhance people's everyday experiences - a vision outlined in the recently launched "Human Network" campaign.

Succeeding Scheinman as the head of the Corporate Business Development organization will be Ned Hooper, who has been vice president of Corporate Business Development for the last two years and is an 9-year veteran at the company. As vice president of Corporate Business Development, Hooper has been responsible for driving more than 35 acquisitions including recent acquisitions such as Airespace, Perfigo, and Sypixx. Hooper has also been pivotal in driving Cisco's investment strategies in innovative, early-stage companies in emerging technology and global markets. Hooper will report into Rick Justice, senior vice president of Worldwide Operations and Business Development.

Also joining this organization and reporting into Rick Justice is Steve Steinhilber, vice president of Strategic Alliances and Corporate Consulting Engineering. Steinhilber has helped Cisco forge and expand a number of key alliances with leading IT vendors as well as industry organizations helping to drive the next generation of standards for the Internet.

"I am very excited about these evolutionary organizational and business changes that represent the next step in Cisco's effort to enable the consumer revolution taking place today," said John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco. "Under Dan's proven leadership, I believe that Cisco will be able capitalize on the next wave of market transitions that will impact the digital media space, which promises to make content accessible all the time, anyplace, anywhere. I also have the highest confidence that Ned will continue to successfully lead Cisco's Corporate Business Development organization that he has already been instrumental in helping build. These changes affirm my belief that Cisco is a company not only built to last, but one that is built to lead."