Ned Hooper

Ned Hooper is Senior Vice President of Cisco Systems Corporate Business Development. In this role, he heads an organization responsible for driving Cisco’s global growth strategy through a combination of business development activities including mergers and acquisitions and equity investment, along with the incubation of innovative technologies. Mr. Hooper is a nine year veteran of Cisco. Prior to his current role, he was Vice President of Business Development, where he led the Company’s widely acclaimed acquisition strategy of focusing on growth opportunities by entering new markets and integrating innovative technologies into Cisco’s market-leading businesses. Through acquisitions including IronPort, Airespace, Linksys, and Scientific Atlanta, Hooper’s guidance has driven Cisco’s expansion in the network service control, wireless, consumer networking, and digital video markets, resulting in the addition of $3B+ in annual revenue to Cisco since 2002. Mr. Hooper’s strong management and direction have also created substantial strategic financial returns for Cisco. By leveraging the company’s position as a Corporate Venture Capitalist with a $1B portfolio, he has helped focus Cisco’s entry into expanding opportunities in India and China, and its creation of new markets through innovation in areas such as wireless and online gaming. In previous positions, he was responsible for creating and implementing Cisco’s strategy for entering the packet telephony local services market. He headed a Product Management team that delivered and implemented a solution for Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) and Cable Multiple System Operators to provide Class 5 Voice over IP services. He joined Cisco through the acquisition of start-up Lightspeed International, where he was Director of Business Development responsible for implementing a global distribution strategy. Mr. Hooper began his career in technology as a product manager at MCI and Concert, a joint venture between MCI and British Telecom. Mr. Hooper holds an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, where he received the Award for Academic Excellence, and a bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado.