Cisco finance chief Kelly Kramer is retiring after five years in the position.
CEO Chuck Robbins made the announcement on an earnings call on Wednesday, saying, “Kelly has made the decision to retire from Cisco.”
Robbins said that Kramer will step down once her replacement is found and will help with the recruitment process.
“I’ll certainly miss Cisco, but I’m looking forward to what’s next,” Kramer said on the call.
Kelly Kramer
Kramer led the company through dozens of acquisitions during her tenure, including video analytics company Modcam and privately held network intelligence company ThousandEyes. Under Kramer’s leadership, Cisco developed a record of successfully integrating other businesses.
“She has played a key role in reshaping Cisco into the company we are today,” said Robbins. “Over her 8-plus years here, Kelly has led the effort to improve our financial performance, focused on investor confidence, and helped position Cisco for success.”
Kramer joined the computer networking equipment maker in 2012 as senior vice president of corporate finance and became senior vice president of business technology and operations finance before being named CFO in 2015.
Before Cisco, Kramer was CFO of GE Healthcare’s Healthcare Systems business. During her 20 years with General Electric, she held other CFO roles including CFO of GE Healthcare Biosciences.
She serves on the board of directors and chairs the audit committee for Gilead Sciences. Kramer is also a member of the board of directors for the Silicon Valley Chapter of City Year.
The news of Kramer’s departure came as the company announced a restructuring, which will begin this quarter and include a voluntary early retirement program and layoffs. The company said it expects to recognize a related one-time charge of about $900 million.
Robbins said “over the next few quarters” the company also plans to reduce its expenses by $1 billion on an annualized basis.