Verkada, the leader in cloud-managed enterprise building security, today announced the addition of Alison Gleeson as Strategic Advisor. Gleeson, who began working with Verkada on August 1st, comes from Cisco Systems, Inc where she most recently served as Senior Vice President, Americas. At Cisco, Gleeson led more than 9,000 sales representatives across 35 countries, and was responsible for more than $25 billion in yearly revenue.
“We are thrilled to welcome Alison to Verkada,” said Filip Kaliszan, CEO and co-founder of Verkada. “She has an impressive track record guiding a global industry leader in the security space and is exactly the kind of proven executive who can help us scale our growing business. We look forward to her leveraging her expertise in evolving go-to-market strategies, strengthening our partner relationships, and launching innovative solutions for customers.”
“I am thrilled to work with Verkada’s team,” said Alison Gleeson. “They have incredible products that businesses and organizations all over the world have responded to, and I look forward to helping their stellar sales team expand their reach by appealing to new customers and bringing on new partners. I’m also eager to mentor Verkada’s emerging women leaders and play a role in shaping the next generation of women executives at the company.”
In a newly created role for Verkada, Gleeson will advise the company’s leadership and sales team on key initiatives aimed at scaling the business and maximizing growth. Gleeson will also help lead and expand Women at Verkada, which began in July 2020, and has been instrumental in diversifying the company’s workforce.
Gleeson joined Cisco in 1996 as a Regional Sales Manager, eventually rising to SVP of Americas over the course of 22 years at the company. In her latest role, she led Cisco’s largest geographic region which includes the US Commercial, US Public Sector, and the Global Enterprise Segment focused on the organization’s top 28 customers, and achieved high-growth goals driving customer and partner success.
Gleeson has been awarded Connected World’s Women of IOT award, Diversity Best Practices’ Above and Beyond Legacy Award, and the Michigan Council for Women in Technology’s Women in Technology award. She was also the Global Executive Sponsor and Board President for Cisco’s Connected Women’s Network, an organization with 7,000 members worldwide. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Elastic and the Board of Directors for 8×8, Inc, both public companies in technology headquartered in California. In addition, she is a Portfolio Committee Member, and Advisor to Brighton Park Capital headquartered in Greenwich, CT.
