David Meads is the President of Cisco Africa. In this role he is responsiblefor defining Cisco’s go‐to‐market strategy across the African continent and for the field execution of that strategy. He was appointed to the role after more than two and a half years as Managing Director for Cisco in South Africa. During his tenure, Cisco helped the country develop its e‐Skills Initiative, aimed at harnessing information and communications technologies for socio‐economic development. He joined Cisco in 1996 from Siemens Network Systems.