Jaime Vallés, new leader for Cisco's Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China region

Cisco announced the appointment of Jaime Vallés as the company's new leader for Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China (APJC). Vallés takes over from Edzard Overbeek, who was recently appointed head of Cisco's Global Services business. Owen Chan will remain chairman and CEO of Cisco's Greater China theater.

Vallés was previously the senior VP of Cisco's Latin America theater and has a strong track record of success in emerging countries, turning Latin America into one of company's fastest growing regions since he joined it in 2007. With more than 20 years of leadership experience in the IT industry, Vallés brings to APJC a broad understanding of Cisco's strategic direction and unique experience in effectively driving growth in both developed and emerging countries.

"Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China represent a huge opportunity for future growth and innovation for Cisco. This internal appointment demonstrates the great strength and depth of the Cisco leadership talent across the world. Jaime is a great leader with a wealth of experience, passion and outstanding skills in building and leading teams, creating and executing strategic business plans and forging strong relationships built on trust and integrity," said Rob Lloyd, executive VP, worldwide operations, Cisco.

Prior to Cisco, Vallés was president of Sun Microsystems Latin America for seven years, and president of Sun Microsystems Mexico before that. He also previously held senior leadership positions at IBM.