Amanda Jobbins, who resigned as Cisco's partner marketing chief in August, will be the new chief marketing officer at enterprise software stalwart The Sage Group plc, based in the United Kingdom.
Sage, which formally announced Jobbins' hiring this week, said Jobbins will start on Nov. 5 and be responsible for managing Sage's global brand, strategic product marketing, pricing, corporate communications and global alliances. She reports to Sage Group CEO Guy Berruyer.
"Her appointment further strengthens our executive team, bringing global expertise in strategic marketing and experience from market-leading technology companies. Amanda will play a key role in driving forward our strategy to capture the commercial benefits presented by changing technology and customer requirements and to achieve our growth ambition," Berruyer said in a statement.
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Jobbins resigned from Cisco about two months ago, citing family reasons and seeking a return to her native U.K. She was Cisco's vice president, global partner marketing for about a year but had already established herself with partners for her attention to detail and aggressive marketing campaigns aligned with Cisco's corporate branding. At the time of her promotion, she had been running Cisco's European marketing efforts since 2008. Jobbins succeeded Luanne Tierney, another popular former Cisco partner marketing chief, who exited Cisco for rival Juniper Networks in January 2011.
Cisco hasn't yet filled Jobbins' position, which currently rolls up to Karen Walker, Cisco global vice president, segment, services and field marketing. Jobbins' exit was one of several major changes to Cisco's Worldwide Partner Organization (WWPO) in recent months, including Bruce Klein's succession of Keith Goodwin as senior vice president, WWPO, and the return of Wendy Bahr to the role of senior vice president, Americas Partner Organization, following Jim Sherriff's transition into a sales chief of staff role under Cisco president, development and sales, Rob Lloyd.
Sage plc is the parent company of Sage North America, which has come under fire from solution providers this year due to major changes to core products and moves such as the introduction of a contentious subscription pricing plan.
Sage sought to clarify its road map and mend fences with partners during the company's August partner conference in Nashville, Tenn.
PUBLISHED OCT. 10, 2012
