PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University graduate Douglas C. Allred, head of one
of Cisco Systems’ largest divisions, today (Feb. 25) receives the WSU Alumni Achievement
Award.
Allred is in Pullman as the College of Engineering and Architecture’s Distinguished Lanning
Lecturer. His topic, “Customer Advocacy in the Explosive Internet Revolution,” explains Cisco’s
service-oriented culture, upon which the worldwide leader in networking has built success since
1984.
The 1973 computer science graduate was cited for “outstanding professional achievement in
information systems and customer advocacy management, and for community service on behalf
of education.”
As senior vice president of Cisco Systems of California, Allred is responsible for the
company’s global professional and consulting services, technical support, customer services,
information systems and quality engineering functions. Cisco makes the machines that direct
traffic on the Internet, and now sells its goods over the Internet.
A May 1998 cover story in CIO Enterprise Magazine cites Allred’s philosophy of putting
customers first, whether the systems serve internal or external needs. That formula “saved the
San Jose-based Cisco at least $290 million a year in operating costs,” according to the story.
The Atherton, Calif., resident also has played a role in Cisco’s promotions of donated
equipment to universities, including WSU, and to public schools. Cisco products donated to the
Menlo-Atherton Foundation allow Internet connection to Menlo-Atherton High School, the
school district and feeder schools in Menlo Park.
Allred, and his wife, Loretta (Salvadalena), a 1972 WSU graduate in human development,
personally have endowed two scholarships at WSU. He also serves as a WSU Foundation
trustee.
Allred joined Cisco Systems approximately eight years ago from Oracle, where he was vice
president of the company’s worldwide support group. Earlier, he was vice president of
Information Services at a division of General Electric. He came to WSU in the late 1960s from his
family home in Richland, Wash., and is a 1968 graduate of Columbia High School.
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