John Morgridge, Chairman of the Board at Cisco Systems, joined Cisco in 1988 as President and CEO. During his tenure as CEO, Morgridge grew the company from $5 million in sales to over $1 billion, and from 34 employees to over 2,260 employees. In 1990, he took Cisco public and in 1995 was appointed Chairman.

Twenty years ago, Cisco Systems did not exist. Today, the company has more than $18 billion in revenues with nearly 36,000 employees operating in 65 countries. Cisco is one of the best examples of a company using Internet technology to gain competitive advantage with over 90 percent of the company’s orders and customer support being transacted via the Web.

In his role as Chairman, Morgridge dedicates his time to Cisco’s education and government initiatives. He also teaches part-time at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and speaks regularly on entrepreneurialism and management strategies at corporations and universities around the world. In 1996, Stanford’s Graduate School of Business honored John with the Arbuckle Award. Morgridge holds a BBA from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from Stanford University. He has received honorary degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Lesley College, Northern Illinois University, Richmond-The American International University in London, and Carleton University.

Morgridge serves as Director of numerous non-profit organizations, including the American Leadership Forum (ALF) for Silicon Valley, the Nature Conservancy (TNC), Business Executives for National Security (BENS), the Tech Advisory Board for Milwaukee Public Schools, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), the Cisco Foundation and the Cisco Learning Institute. He is a board member of CARE and Interplast, and is also a member of the Stanford Business School Advisory Council.