Cisco has announced the appointment of thirty year industry veteran Carl Solder as the Chief Technology Officer. He will be taking over from the position vacated by Kevin Bloch, who left in July 2020 to start his own company.

“I have been fortunate to be part of an incredible company, have worked with visionary leaders and led teams of talented, committed individuals and now I’m excited to be establishing my own technology advisory company,” Bloch said at the time of his resignation.

Based in Perth, Solder will headline Cisco’s efforts in technology strategy and highlight the latest company innovations, with a strong customer focus to understand the needs and application of technology, the tech giant said in a statement.

Solder has been with Cisco for almost three decades and was based in the US for fourteen years before returning to Australia. He was managing across a range of roles including in the company’s engineering and enterprise networking business.

“It’s great to be back. I’m keen to connect back with our Australian and New Zealand customer community who, at the executive briefing centres in San Jose, are often viewed as technology thought leaders when compared to customer peers across the world,” Soder said in a statement.

“In my last few years at Cisco’s engineering headquarters, the team have upped the ante on driving its innovation engine. I saw more innovation being pushed out the door than any other time across my 25 years with Cisco.”

Solder replaces long time local Kevin Bloch who left the role he held for 21 years in June 2020 to start his own technology advisory company.

Bloch spent the last 12 years as CTO of Cisco ANZ and prior to that, held other senior roles within the company.