9. Cisco Sees Executive Exodus In Its Engineering Operations

Chuck Robbins began making changes at Cisco Systems as soon as he became CEO in July 2015. But the shakeups at Cisco continued into this year and even seemed to accelerate as the giant networking technology company sought to change course, seeking to become a more nimble, more innovative business and shifting focus from commodity network hardware to software and services.

In 2016 the upheaval was greatest within its engineering operations. In May came news that Nick Earle, the "founding father" of Cisco's cloud strategy, planned to leave the company by year's end. Partners told CRN there was an internal power struggle underway when four top engineers left in early June. Other exiting executives included enterprise engineering leader Robert Soderbery and longtime network leader Pankaj Patel.

The exodus seemed to reach its peak in October when Zorawar Biri Singh, Cisco's CTO and senior vice president of Cloud Services and Platforms, was leaving the company after just 15 months on the job.