Marcus Alston joined Cisco 4 years ago as part of FLEX-RL—Cisco’s HR leadership development program. Gaining a breadth of HR experience in the rotational program, he worked in Cisco’s Leadership and Intelligence, DEI consulting, and HR Orchestration spaces. He made a one year departure from HR to do a rotation in the business—supporting Business Transformation in ONEx (Customer Experience and Operations). He ‘graduated’ early from FLEX-RL to accept a Chief of Staff role supporting Megan Bazan, VP and People Partner to Cisco’s COO. In October 2023, Marcus was promoted to Senior People Partner.
Prior to coming to Cisco, Marcus worked in Consumer Banking for JPMorgan Chase and on the underwriting side of Insurance for Auto-Owners Insurance Company. His business experience is somewhat of a second career. Marcus is a classically trained clarinetist and trained to be a professional orchestral musician.
During his MBA program at UW-Madison, Marcus was a fellow of The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management. Marcus was named a Rising Star by talent brand firm, PH Creative and is a fellow of On Deck’s Chief of Staff fellowship.
Originally from Lansing, MI, Marcus and his husband Kyle currently live in the heart of Silicon Valley–San Jose, CA. Outside of Cisco, Marcus can usually be found cooking, playing clarinet, or screaming at the television watching his favorite TV show—RuPaul’s Drag Race.