# Ali Wallace > Workforce Planning & Organization Design at Cisco Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/aliwallace I leverage my experience in M&A, workforce planning, organization design, and client management to drive value in Cisco's Talent Planning practice. ## Work Experience ### Workforce Planning & Organization Design Lead @ Cisco Jan 2026 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area ### People (HR) Deal Lead, Mergers & Acquisitions @ Cisco Jan 2022 – Jan 2026 | San Francisco Bay Area Lead HR workstreams on global acquisitions across Cisco's strategic areas of investment with involvement from early discovery, due diligence, commit, announce, and deal close through integration. Negotiate with executive teams on their employment packages and all employment matters in Term Sheets and Merger/Share Purchase Agreements. Develop organizational design approach for acquired teams, and partner with Cisco executive sponsors to establish people value drivers and strategy for each deal. Deal Experience: Syrmia Networks, Lightspin, Smartlook, Oort, Splunk, Placetel ### Chief of Staff to Executive Director, FLEX Leadership Program @ Cisco Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 | San Francisco Bay Area Chief of Staff for the Executive Director of the People, Policy & Purpose FLEX Leadership Development Program. ### People Partner: Engineering, Product Management, Customer Success @ Cisco Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco Bay Area Partnered with CTO, VPs of Engineering, Product Management, Customer Success, and Director-level leaders in the Collaboration technology group (SaaS organization) to drive people strategy and programs. Total scope of 800+ employees globally. Led, consulted on, and/or implemented the following: - Career pathing - Rewards/compensation - Employee engagement - People analytics & measurement - Performance management - Talent movement - Organization design - Leadership coaching & development ### Workforce Planning & Organization Design Consultant @ Cisco Jan 2020 – Jan 2021 | San Jose, California, United States Workforce Planning: Workforce analysis, consultation & planning for Engineering (15,000+ EEs), CX (30,000+ EEs), & Finance (2,000+ EEs) functions. Client Management: Led consultation, attrition analysis & predictive modeling efforts for product portfolio: inclusive of Engineering & Sales functions, total scope of 2,000+ employees. Organization Design: Drove Organization Design consultation for Emerging Talent function. Internal Development: Designed and facilitated workforce data analysis, visualization & interpretation ‘bootcamp’ training for new hires. ### MBA Intern | HR Leadership Program @ Cisco Jan 2019 – Jan 2019 | San Francisco Bay Area My work centered on post-acquisition integration strategy. I led over 70 listening sessions with employees impacted by key acquisitions to evaluate integration status and map against acquisition goals. Some results of my work were an internal communication strategy and an employee engagement plan. Additionally, I conducted a post-acquisition consultation for a UK-based firm. To do this, I facilitated listening sessions, leveraged internal benchmarking, mapped against leading indicators and Cisco Integration best practices, and presented the project findings and recommendations to the leadership team. ### Consultant: People & Organization | Technology Innovation & Integration | Global Strategy @ NETGEAR | Walt Disney Animation | Kosmos Holdings Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | Greater Los Angeles Area & Shanghai I worked as an MBA consultant on three projects spanning talent acquisition and inclusion initiatives, new technology implementation and integration, and growth strategy. ### Leadership Development Specialist @ Guitar Center Jan 2016 – Jan 2018 | Greater Los Angeles Area I developed content and strategy for Guitar Center’s first enterprise-wide Leadership Development Program. The Program consists of onsite workshops, live webinars and interactive eLearning for managers of people and projects across all business units within the enterprise. I was also voice over talent for e-learning modules, facilitated live workshops and virtual classrooms for the Program, as well as managed program tracking, analysis and reporting to ensure successful and sustainable deployment of training and development programs through the Learning Management System (Saba Software). Additionally, I conducted gap analysis on and proposed improvements to learning programs, and coached employees across levels on career development, performance management issues, and personal leadership. ### Training Content Specialist @ Guitar Center Jan 2016 – Jan 2016 | Greater Los Angeles Area In my role as a Training Content Specialist I created and edited content for e-learning modules, live virtual classrooms, and webinars. This included script-writing for various training covering: product, retail, internal development, and HR initiatives, as well as designing content for professional development, product modules, and success in retail skills courses. I also led, presented, and produced live virtual classrooms and webinars, and was voice-over and on-camera talent for recorded training and e-learning modules and videos. In addition, I managed various reporting and community administrator responsibilities for our enterprise-wide learning management system (LMS). ### Human Resources Associate @ C Space Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 My role as a Human Resources Associate spanned across all functions in the HR department, but my primary focus was on Learning & Development programs. I worked with the Learning & Development team to identify success criteria with the business prior to the development of learning solutions. We partnered closely with the Head of HR and department leaders to assess organization-wide learning and development needs and created yearly plans in support of the company’s strategic priorities. I managed all aspects of the New Employee Orientation program, Summer Intern Training and Development Program, and the Peer to Peer Program. These programs focused on active, experiential learning through training sessions, workshops, work-with opportunities, and immersion experiences. My team’s work led to a 15% increase year-over-year in employee engagement related to employees’ dedication to training since 2013. ### Human Resources Coordinator @ C Space Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 | Greater Boston Area In my role as a Human Resources Coordinator I partnered closely with HR and Learning & Development leaders to manage various projects including: coordination and co-implementation of a company-wide Professional Development Forum, management of the C Space University program, and HRIS reporting and maintenance across multiple databases. ### Human Resources Assistant @ C Space Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 As a Human Resources Assistant I collaborated with the Talent Acquisition, HR, and Learning & Development teams. My primary responsibilities were recruiting coordination and support, training program management, and supporting the HR team on various project work. ### Clinical Recruiter @ Professional Staffing Group Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 In my role as a Recruiter I focused on the Healthcare vertical. I recruited Registered Nurse, Licensed Practical Nurse, and Medical Reviewer candidates for direct hire positions. In order to achieve our team goals, we organized 35+ candidate in-house interviews per week, and screened and sourced additional candidates through online databases. ### Summer Associate @ Washington Wine Academy Jan 2012 – Jan 2012 | Arlington, Virginia My role was focused on outreach, education, and information systems management. As a Summer Associate I managed the Washington Wine Academy website, launched and managed a new online payment system to improve efficiency, promoted the company and events through social media platforms, and regularly contributed to the company blog. ### Folklife Festival Participant Staff Intern @ Smithsonian Institution Jan 2012 – Jan 2012 | Washington, DC As an Intern for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, I was the first point of contact for festival volunteers and performers, and managed behind-the-scenes support and coordination of materials, event set-up, and communications. ### Orientation Leader/First Year Experience Peer Adviser @ UC Davis Student Housing Jan 2011 – Jan 2012 | University of California, Davis As an Orientation Leader and Peer Adviser, I designed presentations and 1:1 advising programs for incoming first year and transfer students to educate them on academics, graduation and major requirements in an approachable and easily digestible way. ### Business Manager @ The Liquid Hotplates A'Cappella Jan 2009 – Jan 2012 | University of California, Davis As Business Manager, I managed all financial, PR, and internal strategy responsibilities for The Liquid Hotplates A'Cappella Group. Additionally, I organized, promoted, and led university-wide auditions that resulted in a 20% increase in the number of auditionees. ### Marketing Representative @ MyEdu Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 | University of California, Davis As a Marketing Representative, I utilized various social media platforms as well as live presentations to increase customer base and awareness of the MyEdu platform. ## Education ### Master of Business Administration - MBA USC Marshall School of Business ### Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Anthropology, Minor in English University of California, Davis ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/awallace2012 --- Source: https://flows.cv/aliwallace JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/aliwallace/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13