Cisco CTO could be tapped by Obama

Cisco's CTO Padmasree Warrior is one of the top two candidates for the first U.S. CTO, expected to be named any day now, according to published reports.

The 46-year-old candidate was formerly CTO at Motorola, where she worked for 23 years, and has worked for Cisco for the past 13 months.

She skirted her prospects as federal CTO when asked about them by BusinessWeek via e-mail. Instead she addressed generalities. "Smart networking technologies and IT play a critical role in transforming government, energy, education and healthcare," she said.

When she joined Cisco, Warrior laid out her philosophy about technology. "I enjoy envisioning and creating the future," she wrote in her blog, "and leveraging technology leadership for business growth. Expertise, experience, energy -- these exemplify my platform for achievement."

A few months later in an interview posted on Cisco's Web site, she talked about what she admires in leaders. "So, if you were to ask me for some of the traits that I admire in people, it's people that have a vision. People that have a passion. Business leaders that have a passion. Business leaders that are risk-takers. Business leaders that are inclusive. I don't like businesspeople that have big egos, where it's the whole organization is is tuned to feeding a leader's ego. I dislike that.

"What else do I like? I like people that are humble, in the sense that there, there's a hunger to learn constantly in the leader. Those are some of the traits that I admire. I think a leader is fundamentally a human being. So I think, you know, there are, these are all human traits, right? I think so, as human beings, how we lead is very close to how we live."

At the World Economic Forum last year in China, she said that in a global economy, science and technology calls for collaboration across disciplines. She says there needs to be understanding about how different countries view intellectual property, and a global policy for protecting intellectual property. Education is an important element to growing the world economy, she says.

Based on her Twitter postings, Warrior is not afraid of name dropping and has a sharp wit. Some samples:

Did Governor Palin just wink at me ?? I feel insulted
Sitting next to Martha Stewart at dinner.
She says she loves my last name and wants to have it :)

Said no to Bridge w/ Warren Buffet.
Back in my room doing email.
My dad, a national Bridge champ in India
would be unhappy with my judgment
My decorator & I talk at x-purposes;
He says "chartreuse"
I say *green*,
he says "antique"
I say "fake",
he says "shantung",
I say "pardon?"