Cisco appoints Cognite CEO Girish Rishi to board

Cisco announced the appointment of Girish Rishi to its board of directors on October 9, 2026, effective immediately. Rishi brings three decades of technology leadership across hardware, software, systems, data and AI, product development, supply chain and mergers and acquisitions.

Rishi currently serves as chairman and chief executive officer of industrial AI company Cognite, as well as a senior advisor to Blackstone. He previously served as chief executive officer of Blue Yonder and held executive roles at Tyco International, Zebra Technologies, Motorola Solutions and Symbol Technologies.

Chuck Robbins, chair and CEO of Cisco, stated that Rishi's expertise in helping complex organizations harness data and AI will be invaluable as Cisco provides critical infrastructure for the AI era. Rishi also serves on the board of Insight Enterprises, where he has been a director since 2017, and previously sat on the board of Digi International.