SAN FRANCISCO — Oliver Roll has joined Cisco as SVP and chief communications officer, after leaving his previous role as CCO at VMware.

Roll reports to CMO Karen Walker, and arrives at Cisco after a number of departures from the company's communications function over the past couple of years. In 2015, senior corporate comms director John Earnhardt left the company, followed by David McCulloch (to GE) and Melissa Selcher (to LinkedIn) this year.

Walker, who replaced CMO Blair Christie last year, said that Roll would "lead analyst and public relations, executive and employee communications and office of the CEO communications."

"Our job is to help our customers navigate this complexity—so there’s never been a better time to tell the Cisco story clearly and concisely," said Walker. "That’s why I’m so excited to announce that Oliver Roll is joining Cisco as our new SVP and chief communications officer."

Prior to joining VMware in 2013, Roll spent more than 20 years at Microsoft in a variety of marketing and comms posts across the UK, Asia and the US.