Anthony R. Vonsee

General Manager
Cisco Africa

Anthony R. Vonsée joined Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, 8 years ago. Since August 1st,  2003 he has been appointed Directeur General/General Manager for Cisco Emerging Africa, with more than 40 sub-saharan countries under his responsibility. With a strong commitment to the specific needs of the African Customer and Partner requirements, Mr Vonsee has created a strong Cisco presence in Africa, with hubs in Dakar, Lagos, Nairobi and Johannesburg.

He first joined the company as Major Opportunity Manager for Eastern Europe and Central Europe, Russia & CIS countries, Middle East and Africa. After 3 years he was promoted to Director Business Development Advanced Technologies for Russia, Middle-East and Africa. In 2001 he received the EMEA Business Development Manager of the Year award from John Chambers CEO Cisco Systems.

Mr Vonsée has extensive experience and knowledge working in Europe, Middle-East and Africa, as well as  the United-States. Mr.Vonsée has more than 18 years of experience in Information Technology and Telecommunications and working in Emerging Economies. The acceleration of the closure of the Digital Divide in Africa has his highest priority.

Mr. Vonsée started his professional career in 1981 as Management Consultant with Coopers & Lybrand Management Consultancy Services, where he advised large corporate customers and service providers on their IT&T strategy and business process re-engineering.

He was an IT &T Manager for Scandinavia and the Netherlands at Digital Equipment and promoted to Sales Manager, Consultancy and outsourcing services.

AT&T approached him as Director to build one of the four AT&T Global Network Management Centers and became Sales Director AT&T Managed Services, Europe Middle-East and Africa.

At the time, Mr Vonsée was appointed by KPN-Telecom  in the Netherlands to become Corporate Account Consultant driving the services strategy for the transformation of the Corporate Account Group services. Within the first year he was promoted to the role of Operating Executive for the Services Integration Business Unit.

Mr. Vonsée  is married with 2 children and speaks, English, French, German, Italian and Dutch.