Barbara Beck
Vice president of human resources, Cisco Systems

Barbara Beck's father had an obviouis passion for science and teaching which instilled in Barbara an appreciation of technology, the sciences and the drive to make a difference. Beck aspired to be a science teacher like her father, who taught physics and took his family with him on a two-year sabbatical to Africa where he taught mathematics and auto mechanics.

Never one to shy from a challenge, Beck put herself through college by juggling three jobs. After obtaining her natural science degree as well as a California teaching credential, she taught school in the San Francisco Bay Area for several years.

With her teaching background, Beck chose to pursue a new career and began a foray into Human Resources within a training and development organization. She spent five years at Northern Telecom in the Management and Organizational Development Department and later as the HR Manager for the Data Networks Division. Since then, Beck has held a variety of roles and responsibilities within other Human Resources functions. She managed the employment function for Network Equipment Technologies during the company's highest rate of growth.

Beck was brought in to Cisco to lead the HR initiatives and department when the company had only 38 employees and an annual revenue of $27.7 million. Since that time, the company has been one of Silicon Valley's true success stories with a run-rate close to $4 billion, almost 7,000 employees and growth exceeding industry competitors who are moving forward at the industry average of 30-50 percent.

At Cisco, Beck leads an organization that creates world class HR programs and services, in part, by utilizing the companyÕs own technology. This groupÕs accomplishments were recently recognized with the prestigious Optimus Award, sponsored by "Personnel Journal," recognizing the innovative use of technology for recruiting and employment purposes. During the last week of April, CiscoÕs Web employment site received more than 19,000 hits.

Beck has three children, a 3-year-old girl, a 5-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy. She spends her free time outside of Cisco with her family.