Carrie Palin

Meet Carrie Palin, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Cisco, where she leads a global marketing organization through one of the most transformative moments in the company’s history. Carrie has stewarded Cisco to five years of growth on the Interbrand Best Global Brands list, reaching the #11 spot in 2025 and securing the ranking as the world’s #1 pure B2B brand for the fifth year in a row. A champion for women in tech, she proudly sponsors Cisco’s North America Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) chapter, using her platform to open doors, elevate voices, and create pathways for the next generation of leaders.

Carrie often speaks out about one of the biggest misconceptions about AI: that it’s here to replace us. “At Cisco, we see AI as a force-multiplier,” she says. It’s a partner that handles the repetitive, data-heavy work so humans can lean even deeper into what we do best: build trust, shape strategy, and make meaning. That mindset has powered a major shift inside Cisco’s marketing function, where her team has built AI-powered experiences that personalize every interaction. The result? A more efficient, more responsive, and, most importantly, more human customer journey.

Carrie has also never been afraid to shake things up. One of her favorite examples of “good trouble” is Cisco’s Secure the Enterprise campaign, a bold, music-first ad that ditched every cybersecurity cliché. No fear. No dark hoodies. No branding until the very end. Just a surprising, joyful piece of storytelling that made people pay attention… and even earned a Cannes award nomination in the process. For Carrie, real impact comes from refusing to play small and being unafraid to do things differently when the industry expects predictability.