Maria Poveromo, Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer at Cisco knows that designing a magnetic workplace culture is more effective than mandating attendance. She champions a people-first approach to hybrid work—making inclusion a priority not just in policy, but through the very technologies Cisco develops and sells. Poveromo’s team uses real-time translation, AI-driven speaker tracking, and immersive video conferencing tools to ensure that remote voices aren’t sidelined in collaborative settings. “We make sure the interactions are rich,” she says. Whether in-person or online, she believes communication should be as engaging and equitable as possible—values reflected in the company’s own offices, now optimized to support choice, productivity, and connection.
Born and raised in the United States, Poveromo earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wesleyan University. She began her career at Equal Rights Advocates, a nonprofit fighting for gender justice—an early signal of the values-driven leadership style she carries into the corporate world today. Before joining Cisco, she held senior communications roles at IBM and spent nearly two decades at Adobe, where she led global communications during its transition to cloud computing. At Cisco, she leads a global team of 200 and steers internal and external storytelling that not only supports business strategy but also helps shape the company’s inclusive, flexible culture.
Poveromo continues to push for innovations in how communications can serve employees. She’s particularly interested in piloting a four-day workweek in her team—recognizing that comms professionals, always “on,” need sustainable ways to avoid burnout. Outside of work, she applies the same nurturing mindset: her San Jose home includes nine pets and a rotating cast of foster kittens, each with names as lively as her team meetings. “I’m a nurturer by heart,” she says. It’s this mix of empathy, strategy, and action that defines Poveromo’s influence—not just at Cisco, but across the communications field.