Company:Cisco Systems, San Jose, CA, USA
Company Description:Cisco System, Inc. (Cisco) designs, manufactures, and sells Internet protocol (IP)-based networking products and services related to the communications and information technology (IT) industry. The Company also provides services associated with these products and their use and also provides products and services for transporting data, voice, and video traffic across intranets, extranets.
Nomination Category:Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Woman of the Year – Technology

Nomination Title:Shanthi Iyer: Changing the company and the industry through innovation - Women of the year

Describe for the judges the activities and accomplishments of the nominated woman since the beginning of July last year (up to 525 words):

Shanthi Iyer is a Cisco IT Executive who encapsulates vision, strategy, innovation, execution and people as part of her core leadership strengths. Throughout Shanthi’s 15+ years at Cisco, she has grown and developed by leading a variety of different disciplines in order to gain a broader experience within IT. Shanthi has led teams within Infrastructure, Customer Commerce, Supply Chain and Enterprise Data Services which has allowed her to become the versatile IT leader and maverick she is today. Shanthi has developed a strong loyal followership due to her extraordinary people leadership skills. Her willingness to disrupt teams, functions, and sometimes even people, has driven positive outcomes and profitable growth for Cisco.

When Shanthi took over the Supply Chain IT organization, it was focused on maintaining a legacy of complex and customized set of systems. With her inquisitive leadership and aptitude for change, Shanthi orchestrated a new vision and strategy and built an outstanding partnership with the Supply Chain business leadership to architect and implement an out of box implementation of Oracle’s ERP solutions as the foundation for Cisco’s Supply Chain. Within 18 months, Cisco’s Supply Chain architecture, systems, applications and processes were transformed and this was the primary reason Cisco’s Global Supply Chain was ranked number 6 in Gartner's 2015 Supply Chain Top 25!

This transformation drove numerous business benefits, below is a few highlights:

- Time to add a new business entity reduced from 18 months to 6 months
- 30 to 50% reduction in product time to market
- Order cycle times reduced by 73%
- Ongoing support costs reduced by 50%

The benefits of Cisco’s new Supply Chain resulting from this complex transformational journey made Shanthi in high demand. She has spoken at Oracle Open World, the Supply Chain Practitioners Council and to many customers.

Shanthi’s outstanding leadership style has focused on people and teams by her attention to inclusion, diversity, talent development and global strategy. Shanthi has built and developed extremely high performing teams, and always makes time to mentor and coach individuals throughout the organization. Shanthi has empowered her team members to get things done, make decisions and take risks. This allows them the freedom to challenge themselves and grow, knowing they are supported through her leadership. Shanthi is a believer in giving back and devotes considerable time to Cisco volunteer events via participation, donations, and sponsorships. She encourages her team members to spend time supporting various Cisco charitable efforts.

In April, Shanthi has taken over Cisco’s Enterprise Data Service organization. This global team of 800+ combined resources is driving Cisco’s overall IT strategy on Big Data, Predictive Analytics and Data Security. Within a very short time, Shanthi has engaged and built strong relationships with key business stakeholders and built a vision and strategy focused around Data as a Service to enable automation, intelligent decision making and profitable growth.

Shanthi is truly an amazing leader, visionary, innovator, collaborator and partner who has grown and excelled. Shanthi will continue to be looked upon by leaders, peers, and team members as a role model as she continues to lead Cisco’s growth towards becoming the #1 IT Company in the world.

Provide a brief biography of the nominated woman (up to 125 words):

• Shanthi Iyer is a Senior Director of Enterprise Data Solutions (EDS) in CVC IT. EDS encompasses Master Data Management, BI/Analytics and Data Security solutions.
• She supports business transformation, accelerating next generation analytics and technology platforms that Cisco business demands.
• Prior to this role, Shanthi drove Supply Chain Transformation program to move Supply Chain solutions to industry standard platforms and processes.
• Starting as a DBA at Cisco in 1997, moved across many organizations and is known for disruptive and driving results in Infrastructure, Cisco Services, Commerce, Sales, and Supply Chain.
• Before joining Cisco, she worked at Applied Materials in Santa Clara CA and MashreqBank in Dubai
• Provides mentoring and coaching through ICON (India connection), and WTAN (Women in Technology Action Network)