Kelly Jones is the Chief People Officer at Cisco. In this role, she oversees the critical functions,
policies, and operations that unleash the full potential of Cisco’s people across the employee
lifecycle, which is fundamental to instilling a Conscious Culture across the company and
advancing Cisco’s purpose to Power an Inclusive Future for All.
Kelly leads the People & Communities organization, which comprises People Experience,
Executive & Board, Talent Solutions, and Community Partners. Together, this ecosystem
provides holistic care for the well-being of Cisco’s people and designs, develops, and
implements the tools that enable business, career, and personal development.
A teacher at her core, Kelly is driven by a firm belief that unleashing potential in other people is
the foundation of leadership. In her over 15 years at Cisco, Kelly has developed deep
experience building award-winning, high-performing global teams. She joined Cisco in Talent
Acquisition and went on to serve as Vice President of Join & Connect and then as Senior Vice
President & Global Head of Talent Solutions. Kelly is focused on developing data-driven,
creative solutions to enable business transformation, embedding inclusion and transparency
into all of Cisco’s recruiting and talent mobility processes, and enabling the people of Cisco to
become the most successful versions of themselves.
Prior to joining Cisco, Kelly served as Vice President of Sales & Operations for Comsys and
was Principal Owner of her own executive placement and consulting firm.
Kelly is deeply passionate about social justice and accessibility and serves on the board of
HeadCount, a non-partisan organization that uses the power of music to register voters and
promote participation in democracy. She is also an executive sponsor of Cisco’s Connected
Disability Action Network (CDAN) and Cisco Green. Kelly attended North Carolina State
University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in pre-law. She lives in Denver,
Colorado, with her husband, daughter, and rescue dog Henri.