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Keith Goodwin, who has led Cisco's channel organization for seven years as the networking titan's longest-tenured global channel chief, is leaving Cisco.
Reached by CRN, Cisco confirmed Goodwin's pending retirement and said Bruce Klein, currently Cisco's senior vice president, U.S. public sector, will take over Goodwin's position as the new senior vice president, Worldwide Partner Organization, at the start of Cisco's fiscal 2013 on Aug. 1.
In an exclusive interview with CRN Monday, Rob Lloyd, Cisco's executive vice president, worldwide operations, praised the work Goodwin had done to make partnering a top priority across Cisco.
"Keith has been able to make partnering a part of our DNA across the company," Lloyd said. "Any time we're doing a product release, that we have a strategic opportunity, we are thinking about partnering. That has evolved under Keith's leadership."
[Related: 10 Things We Learned At Cisco Partner Summit 2012]
Goodwin was named Cisco channel chief in June 2005, succeeding Paul Mountford, now Cisco's senior vice president, global enterprise market. Mountford had had the role since 2002.
Goodwin previously was head of Cisco's Americas International Theater, covering Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico and Latin America. He joined San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco in 1999 as vice president of operations, worldwide field organization, and before Cisco, spent 20 years at Hewlett-Packard, ending his time there as vice president and general manager, worldwide enterprise accounts. Goodwin has been in the industry for 38 years, Lloyd said.
Goodwin's 2005-2012 run as channel chief spans some of the biggest events in Cisco channel history, from several reorganizations of the Worldwide Partner Organization to massive partner investments such as Cisco's 2008 SMB pledge and the 2011 partner-led launch. He also was at the channel helm during Cisco's messy global supply chain crisis in 2009 and 2010. Goodwin was named CRN's Channel Executive of the Year in 2009.
Goodwin also has made partnering at Cisco more global in scope, Lloyd said.
"I can tell you that when Keith started, a lot of what we were doing was very small, local, almost country-based engagement," he said. "We've tried to speed up our processes to go more quickly. We've listened to our partners."
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