Carmen Cortez

Carmen Cortez began her HR business partnering career at Apple Computer. She later

joined Informix as a Director of Human Resources for the U.S., Canada, and Latin America Operations. After Informix, she decided to pursue experience in Asia by joining Fore Systems as the Director, HR for their Asia Pacific Operations. She commuted from San Jose, California, to Asia for two years. Once this assignment was over, Ms. Cortez joined Rational Software as the HR Director for the Global Sales organization.

The following year, she joined Cisco Systems, Inc., where she has spent the last 12 years in several different positions, each one expanding her breadth and depth of business and HR experience. Carmen Cortez started her career at Cisco with the U.S. Service Provider Sales business. Her next assignment was as the HR leader for Canada and Latin America. In this role, she assisted with the growth of the company in Latin America and Canada by building an HR organization to support growth in these respective regions.

Her next assignment took her to Europe. Ms. Cortez was promoted to the position of Director, HR for the Enterprise Sales organization across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

After this assignment, she moved to Tokyo, Japan, to be the Country HR Leader/Director for Cisco Japan Operations. During her tenure in Japan, she also acted as the interim Employee Relations Leader for Asia Apac for six months.

Upon her return to the United States, she took a role as an executive talent acquisition leader for the U.S. Sales organization. Ms. Cortez continued her success at Cisco, garnering accolades from the company.

She then undertook responsibilities to lead HR for the Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), and held this position for almost six years. Concurrently, she was given different groups and senior executives to partner with. Carmen Cortez has supported the Global Strategic Alliance organization and the Global Corporate Business Development organization (the mergers and acquisitions arm of Cisco). Her next and last role at Cisco was as the HR leader for three architecture leaders and groups. Ms. Cortez left a legacy as a strong HR business partner to the company and its leaders; she built a strong reputation as a people developer at Cisco and was recognized for her impressive skills in leadership development and executive coaching.