Cisco Appoints AMD President and CEO Dr. Lisa T. Su to Board of Directors

[btarunr]

Cisco today announced the appointment of Dr. Lisa T. Su, AMD president and CEO, to its board of directors effective today. "Lisa is an accomplished business leader with deep expertise in the semiconductor industry," said Chuck Robbins, chairman and CEO, Cisco. "We look forward to her contributions to Cisco's board and our business as we continue to develop ground breaking technologies, and a new internet for the 5G era that will help our customers innovate faster than ever before."

Dr. Su, 50, joined AMD in 2012 and has held the position of President and Chief Executive Officer since October 2014. She also serves on AMD's Board of Directors. Previously, Dr. Su served as Senior Vice President and General Manager, Networking and Multimedia at Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., and was responsible for global strategy, marketing and engineering for the company's embedded communications and applications processor business. Dr. Su joined Freescale in 2007 as Chief Technology Officer, where she led the company's technology roadmap and research and development efforts.



Dr. Su spent the previous 13 years at IBM in various engineering and business leadership positions, including Vice President of the Semiconductor Research and Development Center responsible for the strategic direction of IBM's silicon technologies, joint development alliances and semiconductor R&D operations. Prior to IBM, she was a member of the technical staff at Texas Instruments Incorporated from 1994 to 1995. Dr. Su has a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Doctorate degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

For more information about Cisco's board of directors visit here.

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[john_]

This is going to be brutal for the share price. I guess financials will also be bad.

 

[Rares]

Wow! This is going to be huge in server space. Also, it'll bring more AMDs products in CISCO devices.

 

[notb]

Wow! This is going to be huge in server space. Also, it'll bring more AMDs products in CISCO devices.

It won't. It would be not allowed for a board member to promote (force?) products of another company she works for.

Unless of course Cisco is going to buy AMD in long term and this is just the first move.

 

[enxo218]

There is no clear reason given for her appointment just usual tech media generalisations about innovation and corporate buzzwords

 

[mtcn77]

Kind of amazing to see the level of talent in industry's spotlight. She is so lighthanded.

 

[notb]

This is going to be brutal for the share price. I guess financials will also be bad.

For whose share price?
She is not moving (well, yet). She just joins the board of directors. There's no conflict.

There is no clear reason given for her appointment just usual tech media generalisations about innovation and corporate buzzwords

The reason is: she was asked by shareholders (some of whom also own a lot of AMD). Board of directors represents the shareholders, not the company. She is not an employee of Cisco.

But of course it does happen that people move from board of directors to management board. This first step will let her learn more about the company.
Of course moving from AMD to Cisco CEO would be a promotion (at least financially).

 

[Space Lynx]

Maybe instead of this she could be figuring out a way to get better drivers for Navi... I'm leaning towards Ryzen 4800x CPU and Nvidia RTX 3080 for my next PC. I just can't trust AMD with gpu drivers still sadly... it's been several months and people are still having loads of issues.

 

[Countryside]

Its not the CEOs job to make drivers anyway i'm quite sure that AMD is aware of their driver situation and they are working on it.

Like they say Rome wasn't built in a day

 

[notb]

Maybe instead of this she could be figuring out a way to get better drivers for Navi... I'm leaning towards Ryzen 4800x CPU and Nvidia RTX 3080 for my next PC. I just can't trust AMD with gpu drivers still sadly... it's been several months and people are still having loads of issues.

Being on a board of directors will take a few days of her year, likely during leave of absence.
She's an engineer and a top manager. She surely has ambitions larger than being worshiped by gamers.

Anyway, this shouldn't have any impact on her work at AMD. Of course assuming no "next steps" are going to happen.

 

[Vayra86]

Might well be a prelude to a bigger move regarding 5G and core network hardware. Intel is showing less trustworthy especially for government (US) and leaky hardware isn't precisely the best thing right now.

One thing is dead certain, this is not a coincidence in terms of timing. These things simply never are.

 

[notb]

Might well be a prelude to a bigger move regarding 5G and core network hardware. Intel is showing less trustworthy especially for government (US) and leaky hardware isn't precisely the best thing right now.

You mean Cisco switching to AMD chips? If so, then an AMD CEO on board would be a problem (huge conflict of interest).

That would only make sense if Cisco and AMD were to be somehow joined (takeover, holding, conglomerate etc). Taking an AMD CEO to the board would be a natural move.

Since we don't know anything about capital transactions, this does seem very netural. Cisco shareholders may have simply wanted someone technical, with an advanced degree etc. It always looks nice. Boards often include respected scientists from the field etc. It's also a good career (and likely: financial) move for Lisa Su.

As I mentioned earlier, AMD and Cisco largest shareholder lists are quite similar - with 4 common entities in top5.

AMD - Advanced Micro Devices Inc Shareholders - CNNMoney.com

CSCO - Cisco Systems Inc Shareholders - CNNMoney.com

 

[Space Lynx]

Being on a board of directors will take a few days of her year, likely during leave of absence.
She's an engineer and a top manager. She surely has ambitions larger than being worshiped by gamers.

Anyway, this shouldn't have any impact on her work at AMD. Of course assuming no "next steps" are going to happen.

That's fine, but I will be buying nvidia for stability. /shrug

 

[Kaotik]

That's fine, but I will be buying nvidia for stability. /shrug

Fun fact: Only NVIDIA has ever released drivers that literally kill cards. (And no, it wasn't just one time either)

 

[GreiverBlade]

Fun fact: Only NVIDIA has ever released drivers that literally kill cards. (And no, it wasn't just one time either)

actually no, AMD did too in the R9 290 era (although my 290 at the time was not affected) but it was just one time ...


that being said ... got more issues with Nvidia drivers than AMD as far as i can recall i never once had to rollback with AMD drivers while with NV drivers i always use the antepenultimate version

don't know if it did change with the RX 5XXX series, for now i guess the only thing that didn't change is the people saying "i can't trust AMD drivers" whereas i have to say "i can't trust NV drivers" (and i still can't ... indeed 2 version rollback on my 1070 )

 

[xkm1948]

That's fine, but I will be buying nvidia for stability. /shrug

Nah you won’t. Going by what I remember of your post, you will complain about RDNA2 while still ends up buying it. Your love for RTG is too strong, admit it!

 

[EarthDog]

Weird, this thread isn't about drivers................(but since it was mentioned, please note AMD drivers have been a nightmare for many users these past six weeks... to the tune of AMD releasing a new driver on a weekly cadence - as opposed to ~monthly/game ready. Adrenalin 2020 has been just short of a debacle for many and if you compared h2h now, many would disagree with AMD being more stable. ). They both have issues at times, people.

Anyway... didn't Nvidia buy some networking company in 2019 too? Mellanox or something? I recall this was to help them in the data center segment? Not sure how, but...........

 

[dirtyferret]

Stop! Just stop with these Cisco is buying AMD or vice versa theories. This appointment is about one thing and one things only, money to the individual.

Here is the list of board members for Cisco
https://investor.cisco.com/corporate-governance/board-of-directors/default.aspx
for AMD

Board of Directors | Advanced Micro Devices

The Investor Relations website contains information about Advanced Micro Devices's business for stockholders, potential investors, and financial analysts.

ir.amd.com

Look at the resumes, virtually every single person is a CEO for another company or at worst a CFO. Go look at any Fortune 500 company and its board looks the same. It's a club that looks after their own so when it comes time to increase CEO pay who better to vote on it then a bunch of CEOs...

 

[R0H1T]

actually no, AMD did too in the R9 290 era

Not that I doubt this may have been the case, care to point out the version or links to article?

 

[Deleted member 158293]

Stop! Just stop with these Cisco is buying AMD or vice versa theories. This appointment is about one thing and one things only, money to the individual.

Here is the list of board members for Cisco
https://investor.cisco.com/corporate-governance/board-of-directors/default.aspx
for AMD

Board of Directors | Advanced Micro Devices

The Investor Relations website contains information about Advanced Micro Devices's business for stockholders, potential investors, and financial analysts.

ir.amd.com

Look at the resumes, virtually every single person is a CEO for another company or at worst a CFO. Go look at any Fortune 500 company and its board looks the same. It's a club that looks after their own so when it comes time to increase CEO pay who better to vote on it then a bunch of CEOs...

Good for Networking indeed directly at the executive level.

 

[Nkd]

Maybe instead of this she could be figuring out a way to get better drivers for Navi... I'm leaning towards Ryzen 4800x CPU and Nvidia RTX 3080 for my next PC. I just can't trust AMD with gpu drivers still sadly... it's been several months and people are still having loads of issues.

Why not try and decide for yourself. do you know how many times I have seen and corrected people on reddit to actually tweak their memory? People seem run rams on higher speed and not fully stable and then get black screens or what not and blame the drivers.

worst thing you can do is make decision based off reddit or online posts. Because online you will find more complaints then people actually praising the product. If you have an AMD system its a must to fully test out your ram to see if its stable before blaming the drivers. Especially if you are running the ram at faster speed.

For example my 2700x does not like 3200mhz no matter what I try and I can literally cause came crashes all day, step it down to 2800 its rock solid.


As far as some bugs and other stuff goes its with any provider and AMD has been fixing them every driver.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Geez, some of you guys should read this before you comment...

Independent or outside directors are not involved in the day-to-day inner workings of the company. These board members are reimbursed and usually receive additional pay for attending meetings. Ideally, an outside director brings an objective, independent view to goal-setting and settling any company disputes. It is considered critical to strike a balance of internal and external directors on a board.

A board member is likely to be removed if they break foundational rules; for example, engaging in a transaction that is a conflict of interest, or striking a deal with a third party to influence a board vote.

Board of Directors: What It Is, What Its Role Is

A board of directors (BofD) is the governing body of a company that is elected by shareholders to provide guidance, set strategy, and oversee management.

www.investopedia.com

 

[notb]

Here is the list of board members for Cisco
https://investor.cisco.com/corporate-governance/board-of-directors/default.aspx
for AMD

Board of Directors | Advanced Micro Devices

The Investor Relations website contains information about Advanced Micro Devices's business for stockholders, potential investors, and financial analysts.

ir.amd.com

Look at the resumes, virtually every single person is a CEO for another company or at worst a CFO. Go look at any Fortune 500 company and its board looks the same. It's a club that looks after their own so when it comes time to increase CEO pay who better to vote on it then a bunch of CEOs...

Seriously, I though explaining what supervisory board is wasn't necessary... But maybe you should read @Easy Rhino 's post.

Yes, most of them used to be CEO/CFO etc. That's how they got respect and experience needed to get where they are.

If I'm not mistaken: out of Cisco's board just 4/11 people are active CEOs (including Cisco own CEO - Robbins).
On AMD's board: Su is the only active CEO out of 8 (there's one founding partner and one senior managing director).
Most of these people are, simply put, retired.

Remember: supervisory board / board of directors members are proposed by owners/shareholders. It's quite unlikely for them to be active executives of other companies from the same industry. There's too much conflict possible.
The other two CEOs on Cisco's board are from an investment firm and from a pharmaceutical company.

Of course seeing this as a sign of merging etc is a bit far fetched. But the situation is somehow unusual.

 

[GreiverBlade]

Not that I doubt this may have been the case, care to point out the version or links to article?

remember seeing it here on TPU tho it was long ago .... i need to search a bit

the initial report:https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/11/amds-new-crimson-drivers-accused-of-burning-up-video-cards/

the news about the fix : https://www.techpowerup.com/217982/...on-incorrect-fan-speed-issue-being-fixed?cp=2


also here

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/671058196547706880

as i mentioned fortunately it was only once (but strangely my own 290 didn't suffer the issue ... oh wait ... i had mine under a waterblock )

correction, 2years after the R9 290 era

 

[notb]

Oops. AMD outlook going down.
I have absolutely nothing against Lisa Su, but I'm looking forward to how cultists react if she is replaced...