Mr. Gordon Astles
President, Asia Pacific Operations, Cisco Systems, Inc.

Gordon Astles, president of Cisco Systems’ Asia Pacific Operations, joined Cisco in August, 1992 as general manager, Canada.

Mr. Astles was named a senior vice president of Cisco Systems Inc. in December, 2000 and became head of Asia Pacific Operations in February 2001. He oversees Cisco’s $2B business in all Asia Pacific countries including China, Australia, Korea and India.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Astles was located at Cisco’s San Jose headquarters, serving four years as vice-president, Americas International (Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean).

From October 1994 to October 1996 he was stationed in Brussels, Belgium; first as managing director of EMEA sales and later as vice-president of EMEA channels.

Mr. Astles’ hi-tech career began as a sales representative at IBM in May, 1972. He achieved six IBM hundred-percent clubs and relocated five times, progressing through several layers of management. He left IBM in January, 1984 to pursue his entrepreneurial spirit in the personal computer industry. He became vice president of sales and marketing at Crowntek, a $300M Canadian PC reseller in July 1987.

Mr. Astles is an avid snowboarder, racecar driver, musician, bridge player and traveller. He is proud to be the father of three and grandfather of three.