Former Cisco COO Maria Martinez Joins Alkira Advisory Board to Drive AI-Native Networking Innovation

Alkira has announced the appointment of Maria N. Martinez to its advisory board, bringing significant enterprise technology leadership experience to the Network Infrastructure as a Service company. Martinez most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Cisco Systems from 2021 to 2024, where she oversaw Cisco's global customer experience, supply chain, IT, security and trust organizations. Her background includes previous roles as Cisco's Chief Customer Experience Officer and senior executive positions at Salesforce, Microsoft, Motorola and AT&T's Bell Labs.

Amir Khan, CEO and founder of Alkira, emphasized the strategic importance of this appointment, stating that Martinez's deep operational expertise and leadership in scaling customer-centric innovation at world-renowned technology companies make her an invaluable addition. Her guidance is expected to help Alkira continue redefining how enterprises design, deploy, and operate their global networks in the AI era. This move underscores Alkira's continued investment in innovation and AI-driven networking, helping enterprises modernize complex global infrastructure with greater agility, visibility, and security.

The timing of Martinez's appointment aligns with Alkira's recent technological advancements, including the September launch of new AI-native capabilities through its Network Infrastructure Assistant co-pilot and Model Context Protocol server. These innovations enable enterprises to interact with and manage their networks using natural language, representing a significant shift in network management paradigms. Martinez commented on the industry transformation, noting that today's enterprises are being challenged to reimagine network foundations for speed, simplicity, security, and AI requirements that legacy networks cannot adequately address.

Martinez brings extensive board experience to her new advisory role, currently serving on the boards of McKesson, Tyson Foods, Bank of America, JumpCloud, and Fiddler AI. Her perspective on enterprise technology adoption and digital transformation will be particularly valuable as Alkira continues to expand its market presence. The company's approach to unifying environments, sites, and users via cloud-based enterprise networks represents a fundamental shift in how organizations approach network infrastructure, eliminating the need for new hardware deployment or complex architecture learning curves. More information about Alkira's platform and services can be found at https://www.alkira.com.