Darren Pleasance

Darren Pleasance is Cisco’s SVP of Strategic Execution, working directly with the CEO and his executive leadership team to drive the company’s transformation.
In his role, Darren works closely with Engineering, Operations, Finance and Go-to-Market teams to ensure all organizations are aligned in Cisco’s journey towards a recurring revenue, cloud-enabled company.
This role builds on his prior role leading Cisco’s Global Go-to-Market Strategy and Operations team.
Prior to joining Cisco in 2018, Darren led Google’s Global Customer Acquisitions team, responsible for bringing in all new advertising customers to Google throughout the world.
Darren’s team was responsible for ensuring success during the first 180 days of a new customers life with Google before they were handed off to various account management teams.
In this role, Darren led a broad spectrum of teams, including field sales teams, outbound and inbound inside sales teams, contracted sales teams, as well as a global sales ops team.
Prior to Google, Darren was a Partner at McKinsey & Company where he focused in the high tech sector and developed a deep expertise in go-to-market strategy as well as in helping his clients to drive growth within the small and medium business segments.
Darren also developed expertise in the area of third party channels and driving growth through a partner ecosystem.
Darren has also had stints in the Private Equity industry for 5 years and was a professional pilot for many years flying private jets for corporations and high net worth individuals.
He continues to fly for fun and retains his flight instructor certificates while also serving on several aviation-focused Boards, including the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) in Oshkosh WI.