John Chambers Board’s Advisor, Rubrik

Rubrik, Inc. announced two executive appointments.

John Chambers, chairman emeritus and former CEO of Cisco Systems, has joined Rubrik as a board advisor and personally invested in the company.

Avon Puri, former VMware VP of business applications, has been appointed CIO.

“The shift to cloud has been one of the most disruptive market transitions of the Digital Age, impacting the entire technology industry. In just four years, Rubrik has gone from a start-up to an industry leader in helping enterprises tackle the challenges of managing and using their data in the cloud era,” said Chambers, founder and CEO of purpose-driven firm JC2 Ventures and chairman emeritus of Cisco. “When I talk to Rubrik CEO Bipul Sinha about his vision for growing and scaling Rubrik, I have no doubt that the company is on its way to becoming a multibillion dollar business.“

During his 25-year tenure at Cisco, John Chambers helped grow the company from $70 million to $47 billion when he stepped down as CEO in 2015. He has received numerous awards for his leadership, including being named by Harvard Business Review as one of the Best-Performing CEOs in the World and receiving the Edison Achievement Award for Innovation in 2016. In January 2018, he launched JC2 Ventures to invest in companies across categories and geographies that are leading market transitions. As CEO of JC2, he focuses on helping disruptive start-ups from around the world build and scale.

“John’s ability to identify market transitions and capitalize on them to maximum effect has made him a go-to advisor for world leaders,” said Bipul Sinha, co-founder and CEO, Rubrik. “Today, the cloud is transforming every industry, helping businesses to run faster, smarter and more efficiently. Rubrik expands this opportunity by enabling enterprises to liberate their data from legacy infrastructure and fully realize cloud agility and economics. We are thrilled to add John and Avon to our team as we continue to aggressively scale our business globally.”

Prior to Rubrik, CIO Avon Puri led business applications at VMware. In this role, he drove IT transformation across people, process and technology areas for nimble and agile delivery, among other strategic initiatives. He brings 20+ years of experience to Rubrik and has previously served in IT leadership positions at Franklin Templeton Investments and Deloitte.

“Digital transformation initiatives create new opportunities and challenges, such as the adoption of a multi-cloud model and massive data proliferation across environments,” said Puri. “CIOs need infrastructure flexibility and a comprehensive platform that can manage all of their data, no matter where it resides. Rubrik has redefined the data protection industry and shifted the perception of what’s possible.“

These appointments come at a time when Rubrik is experiencing growth. Founded in 2014, the company has grown to more than 1,200 employees across six continents and delivered 14 major product releases. In early 2018, the company announced a bookings run rate approaching $300 million.

In 2018, Rubrik made a number of hires to support its record growth, including: CFO Murray Demo, chief legal officer Peter McGoff, chief people officer Jeff Vijungco, and SVP of product and strategy Shay Mowlem. It also recently added Microsoft chairman John W. Thompson to its board of directors.

Read also:
Shay Mowlem SVP of Product and Strategy, Rubrik
Former MuleSoft and Splunk executive
2018.06.06 | Press Release
John Thompson Venture Partner, Lightspeed
He is Microsoft chairman and at board of Rubrik.
2018.05.03 | Press Release