Ben Dawson

CEO

Australia20 yrs 3 mos experience

Highly Stable

Key Highlights

Led Cisco's APJC strategy and market leadership.
Managed global relationships with top tech companies.
Achieved #1 Great Place to Work in Australia for five years.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS and technology sales leader with extensive experience in strategic partnerships.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

SalesSolution SellingStrategic PartnershipsChannel PartnersManagementBusiness StrategyBusiness Development

Other Skills

Service DeliveryCisco TechnologiesProduct LaunchAccount ManagementChannelStrategyCloud ComputingData CenterEnterprise SoftwareGo-to-market StrategyManaged ServicesSaaSSales ManagementSellingUnified Communications

About

As President of Sales for Asia Pacific, Japan, and Greater China (APJC), I lead a diverse and talented team that is committed to helping our customers and partners innovate with Cisco technology and services. From next-generation networking to cybersecurity and the infrastructure to power AI, we are focused on securely connecting everything to make anything possible for organizations across the region. An important part of my role is shaping Cisco's APJC strategy, driving our market leadership, and ensuring we deliver an exceptional experience for our customers and partners. I believe great leadership comes down to trust, simplicity and enabling the team to thrive. Since joining Cisco in 1998, I've held leadership roles across enterprise, public sector, commercial, channels, and service provider segments in the US and Australia. I spent six years in the heart of Silicon Valley where I led Cisco's Webscale business globally. More recently, I led Cisco's Australia and New Zealand and our Australia team proudly earnt the #1 Great Place to Work five years in a row.

Experience

Cisco

8 roles

President, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Greater China

Promoted

Jul 2025 – Present · 8 mos

Senior Vice President, Cisco Australia & New Zealand

Apr 2025 – Present · 11 mos

Vice President, Cisco Australia & New Zealand

Promoted

Jan 2021 – Apr 2025 · 4 yrs 3 mos

Vice President Sales - Web

Dec 2017 – Jan 2021 · 3 yrs 1 mo

I lead and manage Cisco's global relationships with some of the world's largest and most influential web and cloud companies, including Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple. We supply products and services to enable our customers' core offerings to the market and work with them to fulfill their goals. I lead a team of 140 sales and engineering personnel with accountability for an additional 100+ staff in service delivery, marketing, products, and corporate development.
It's really all about disruption and re-defining the customer experience. What Netflix has done for streaming and what Amazon has done for retail are similar in that they've used technology in new markets and new business models. They are innovating at a pace unlike anything we've seen before. Our clients are established companies that need to innovate at scale, and that's what we try to enable for them.
Every day, I get to work with companies that are changing the world. They are changing how economies, consumers, and even governments operate — and I'm gratified to be at the forefront of supporting that innovation.

SalesSolution SellingService DeliveryStrategic PartnershipsCisco Technologies

Managing Director, Web Northwest

Promoted

Aug 2015 – Dec 2017 · 2 yrs 4 mos

As the global leader for Cisco's holistic relationship with Amazon and Microsoft, I managed a direct team of 15 sales and engineering personnel as well as an additional 40+ staff in the development of offers to take to market.

SalesChannel PartnersProduct Launch

Managing Director | Client Director, Telstra Business Unit

Promoted

Oct 2010 – Aug 2015 · 4 yrs 10 mos

I led the relationship between Cisco and Telstra, Australia's leading provider of mobile phones, devices, and broadband internet. I managed a direct team of 30 sales and engineering personnel and indirectly managed an extended team of 60 specialist sales and engineering resources.

SalesManagementService Delivery

National Sales Director, Enterprise

Aug 2008 – Oct 2010 · 2 yrs 2 mos

My focus was to develop markets and business in emerging verticals such as utilities, connected stadiums, transport, and Smart Cities. With a portfolio of $150 MM in existing business, I managed 15 account managers and 10 pre-sales engineers.

SalesBusiness Strategy

Regional Manager, NSW Enterprise

Jan 2006 – Aug 2008 · 2 yrs 7 mos

I led business development for a $120 MM business portfolio focused on new customers and verticals, along with new solutions for existing customers. My sales team consisted of 11 account managers and 8 pre-sales engineers.

SalesBusiness Development