Denzil Samuels, a top executive in Cisco Systems’ customer experience division, has departed the company to join NTT Data as Senior Vice President of Global Multi-National Account Sales. Samuels, who officially joined NTT Data this month, brings with him extensive experience in channel sales and is set to drive multi-billion-dollar growth across the company’s broad IT services portfolio, which caters to some of the world’s largest enterprises, according to his announcement on LinkedIn. “I am excited to be part of an incredibly talented team that feels like a $30 billion start-up!” Samuels shared in his LinkedIn post. “This invisible giant is about to become much more visible! A fond farewell to my friends and colleagues at Cisco—together, we achieved great things over the past four years. The good news is that, as one of Cisco’s top global partners, NTT Data will allow us to continue working together, which makes me happy.” Samuels had been with Cisco since 2021, serving as Global Vice President of Partner Ecosystem for the company’s customer experience division. In this role, he led Cisco’s shift from hardware reselling to a focus on software and as-a-service solutions, helping partners build successful practices with a strong emphasis on customer experience. At NTT Data, Samuels will remain closely connected to Cisco in his new capacity, maintaining his ties to the company’s ecosystem. Before joining Cisco, Samuels held leadership roles at companies like Salesforce, HPE, GE Digital, and Avaya, building a career around direct and channel sales—a background that he says uniquely positions him to help NTT Data achieve its ambitious growth targets. Samuels’ moves to NTT Data, ranked No. 3 on CRN’s 2024 Solution Provider 500 list, coincides with a period of executive leadership changes and layoffs at Cisco. This summer, Cisco announced plans to reduce its workforce by around 4,000 employees, or seven percent of its global staff, as part of a cost-cutting measure expected to save the company up to $1 billion. Additionally, Jonathan Davidson, a 20-year Cisco veteran, stepped down from his role as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Networking Business to serve as an advisor to CEO Chuck Robbins. Meanwhile, Jeetu Patel, formerly Executive Vice President of Security and Collaboration, is now overseeing a unified organization as Cisco’s Chief Product Officer.
