Cisco COO Jumps To AWS As VP Of Global Sales Operations

Pilar Schenk, a former Dell EMC, McAfee and Cisco top sales and operations veteran, is now Amazon Web Services’ new vice president of global sales. Here’s what her roles were at her former companies.

One of Cisco’s key COOs, Pilar Schenk, has left the networking giant to join AWS as its new vice president of global sales operations.

“AWS’ leadership principles: Customer Obsessed, Think Big, Bias for Action and Deliver Results are all deeply ingrained within me,” said Schenk in a recent LinkedIn post, which has garnered over 220 comments.

Schenk is a longtime sales and operations executive, having worked in top positions at Dell EMC and McAfee over the past 20 years.

Schenk was Cisco’s COO of strategy, planning and operations for Global Specialists, an organization of 6,000 sales specialists working across several markets including enterprise networking, cybersecurity, collaboration and more.

At Cisco, she focused on creating sales operations teams, delivering growth pivots, establishing a software go-to-market strategy and SaaS tech stack, and creating a rigorous business management system, according to her LinkedIn profile. Schenk could not be reached for comment by press time.

To Drive ‘Innovation And Success’ For AWS Customers

Schenk said she’s excited to work at AWS to help drive the Seattle-based cloud computing and AI giant’s global sales operations.

“Global Sales Operations is the engine that optimizes and accelerates our sales capabilities to drive growth, innovation and transformation for our customers,” she said. “Our success is fueled by leveraging data-driven problem solving, strategic insights, robust mechanisms, and automation to deliver operational excellence at scale.”

In her new AWS executive role, Schenk said she will “continue to drive innovation and success for our customers worldwide.”

Dell, McAfee History

Prior to Cisco, Schenk was vice president of global sales strategy and operations at McAfee from 2019 to 2021.

At McAfee, she led the global sales strategy, planning and operations for McAfee’s Enterprise Business group and its SaaS solutions. Schenk said she was responsible for a $20 million budget, 70 team members globally, and leadership across go-to-market strategy and planning, sales enablement, sales tools and process, and in-quarter delivery of the business.

Schenk also spent nearly 15 years at Dell EMC from 2004 until 2019 in various executive roles, including executive director of Dell’s integration with EMC.

“I led Dell EMC's first fully combined sales organization following the company's merger,” she said on LinkedIn.

Her last role at Dell EMC was vice president of channel sales planning and operations.

In terms of her new AWS role, Schenk said she’s ready to help elevate the world’s largest cloud computing company.

“I am inheriting an extraordinary team,” Schenk said. “I’m excited, humbled and honored to be part of this AWS family.”