Shelly Blackburn has more than 25 years of experience in the Telecommunications and Networking industry. For the past 18 years Blackburn has held various roles across Cisco’s Sales, Channel and Development organizations.  In her current role, Blackburn has responsibility for the entire global Security Systems Engineering organization which supports next generation firewall, advanced malware protection, cloud security and zero trust solutions. With a proven track record of increasing sales through the development and leadership of high-performing teams, she leads an organization of more than 500 security focused systems engineers and leaders dedicated to helping protect their customer’s network.

Prior to her current role, Blackburn held positions as Sr. Systems Engineering Director of Architectures, a Systems Engineering Director in the Enterprise Sales Organization, an Engineering Strategy and Planning Leader for the Enterprise Sales Organization, a Sales Business Development Leader and a Consulting Systems Engineer. Prior to Cisco, Blackburn held positions in Marketing and Engineering for Siemens and the State of Minnesota.

Blackburn has a Bachelor of Science degree from Minnesota State University and a Master’s degree in Telecommunications from St. Mary’s University. Blackburn is also a graduate of Women Unlimited, the National program for Women in Leadership, and is a key leader in the Cisco Empowered Women’s Network. She resides in North Carolina with her husband and is a proud mother of two children. When she is not working, Blackburn enjoys golfing, tennis and boating.