ForgeRock Recruits New People Chief From Cisco

Digital identity management solutions provider ForgeRock has selected Cisco’s Tschudy Smith to serve as the company’s new Chief People Officer.

As the company’s top HR executive, Smith will oversee ForgeRock’s talent acquisition and retention strategy for more than 760 employees around the world.

She brings a wealth of experience to help her manage the company’s employee experience, rewards, attraction, retention, development, and diversity and inclusion efforts including her most recent role as Cisco’s SVP of People and Communities. Before leading the people operations for Cisco’s Customer Experience, Operations and Global Sales, Marketing and Partner organizations, she was a senior HR leader at AOL/Time Warner and held roles at Netscape Communications.

“People are at the heart of every great company. Winning as a team with the world’s best talent is the heart of ForgeRock,” CEO Fran Rosch stated. “Tschudy’s reputation for creating trusted partnerships with businesses and leaders, commitment to mentorship and investing in talent is an incredible asset to ForgeRock’s purpose of building a strong, diverse culture, helping our customers succeed and helping people simply and safely access the connected world.”

ForgeRock is reportedly working with Morgan Stanley with plans to IPO in the third quarter of 2021. Adding a veteran HR executive with public sector experience will be crucial to help the company scale in the wake of its public debut, which could net the company a valuation of $3 billion or more.

The company also recently added Twitter CISO Rinki Sethi and former CrowdStrike CMO Johanna Flower to its Board of Directors.