Erna Arnesen

Vice President, Global & Strategic Services Partners, Cisco Corporation

Workshop: The Changing Role of Technology Marketers

Erna Arnesen has most recently led Global & Strategic Services Partnerships for Cisco Services. In this role, she and her team managed the worldwide global and strategic partnering strategy for Cisco Services, managed key strategic partner relationships, and worked with the Worldwide Partner organization to develop and execute strategic partner and service alliance programs within a services-led and solutions-driven environment.

With more than 25 years experience in channel sales, marketing, and alliance management, Erna joined Cisco from Symantec, where she was most recently vice president of Global SMB and Industry Solutions, responsible for messaging, campaigns, and programs for the SMB segment and for global development teams covering key vertical industries. She also served as vice president, Global Channel and Partner Marketing, responsible for creating and building the channel and alliance marketing organization, strategy and programs globally during and after Symantec's acquisition of Veritas.

Prior to Symantec, she was at Fujitsu Softek where she was vice president, Worldwide Channels and North American Sales. Previously, she held vice president positions in alliances, channels and sales at Saba and at CyberSource. As vice president of Global Channels at SGI, Erna managed and implemented SGI's channel, VAR/ISV, global accounts and partners and channel marketing strategies, as the network of channel partners grew to represent the majority of the company's revenue. She also led channel teams, defined and built channel strategies and programs at NeXT and at Apple. She began her career as a VAR selling vertical applications on DEC platforms.

Arnesen is a member of the board of directors for Watermark (formerly known as FWE&E). She is also a member of the Wellesley Business Leadership Council. She has served as an advisory board member of Women in Consulting (WIC) and is currently a board member of the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP). Arnesen completed the Harvard Corporate Board Governance Program in January 2012.

Erna is a recent Honoree of the 2011 Women of Influence Award by the Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal. She has also received the YWCA Tribute to Women in Industry (TWIN) award, and is a graduate of Leadership California.
She has a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree from Wellesley College.