Phil Harris SVP and CSO, Riverbed

Riverbed Technology, Inc. announced that Phil Harris has joined the company as SVP and chief strategy officer, a newly-created position reporting to chairman and CEO Jerry M. Kennelly.

Harris is responsible for helping shape Riverbed’s architectural approach to next-generation software-defined networking, providing counsel and direction on long-term technology and business strategy, overseeing corporate development activities including M&A, and leading go-to-market approach with strategic technology alliance and OEM partners.

“Phil is a well-known, sought-after expert and advisor on technology market shifts and transitions, such as cloud, virtualization and software-defined networking, and will play a key role as Riverbed continues to transform our business and drive innovative solutions that deliver superior application performance for today’s complex, hybrid enterprises,” said Kennelly. “Phil’s broad customer experience and hands-on technology know-how, combined with his understanding of global market trends and go-to-market dynamics, make him a great addition to our leadership team. Riverbed has a lot of market momentum, and Phil is the right leader to help us accelerate that and drive continued growth and transformation.”

“Riverbed is right in the middle of many of the most pressing challenges facing IT today, as businesses continue to migrate apps and data to the cloud, build-out software-defined networks, drive optimization to the edge, and go through a digital transformation,” said Harris. “Riverbed’s current technology and product roadmap, along with our ecosystem of leading technology, service provider and channel partners, uniquely positions Riverbed to help our customers through these market shifts and transitions.”

Harris joins Riverbed from BMC Software, where he was CTO, responsible for business, technology and overall company growth transformation strategies. Before that, he was CSO and VP of platform engineering and strategy at the virtual computing company VCE. He also spent nearly 20 years at Cisco, as CTO of its cloud and virtualization technology group, CTO of its worldwide partner organization, and a consulting engineer as far back as 1993.