Denise Lee, Cisco Systems
Denise Lee is Vice President for Cisco’s Energy Networking Systems, where she leads a pioneering team shaping the future of sustainable, AI-ready infrastructure across the technology industry. Building on her previous leadership of Cisco’s Engineering Sustainability Office, Denise steered the organization’s evolution from foundational sustainability efforts to a strategic focus on integrating advanced energy management and power distribution and cooling technologies and capabilities throughout Cisco’s portfolio.
Under Denise’s leadership, her team is driving the development and deployment of next-generation energy management capabilities, power distribution innovations, and interoperable ecosystems that accelerate IT/OT convergence from campus to data center. These initiatives empower organizations to modernize their infrastructure for greater energy efficiency and resiliency while addressing the growing power demands of digital transformation.
She and her team collaborate across every function of the business to develop and create integrated capabilities that serve as the foundation to incubate and scale sustainable products that power the AI era for Cisco, its customers and partners. Previously, as Global VP of Product Marketing, Denise unified engineering, sales, and marketing voices to tell a compelling story of Cisco’s portfolio and led cross-functional teams to drive value for customers through thought leadership and solution adoption.
Denise is a transformational leader with deep expertise in business strategy, product marketing, and operational growth within complex, matrixed environments. A Silicon Valley veteran, she bridges startup agility with enterprise scale to drive high-performing teams. Her leadership is defined by a commitment to purpose-driven innovation, specifically championing sustainability, renewable energy, and social responsibility to deliver long-term industry impact.
Denise serves on the boards of NEMA and Junior Achievement (Northern California and Global Advisory). She also provides strategic guidance as an advisory board member for Stanford SILICON and the UNESCO Chair in Digital Futures, championing the intersection of technology, education, and global social progress.
Denise holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.