GenXYZ Nominees Thrive: Jennifer Chang (2010) — Where is She Now?

Everyone was right when they predicted bright futures for these executives, entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders. Ten-plus years after ColoradoBiz profiled these Top Young Professionals of Colorado, we revisited several to see where their career paths led them and what they are doing now.

Some are with the same companies; others have moved on to different businesses and new roles.

For some, change was inevitable as their companies were acquired or merged with other entities. For still others, the desire to start something new was irresistible. All are continuing to meet and exceed their own career goals and engage with their communities.

The Gen XYZ Awards are open to those who are under 40 and live and work in Colorado.

Jennifer Chang

2010: 29, Federal Account Executive, Global Technology Resources Inc.

2024: Regional Sales Director, U.S. Federal, Cisco Appdynamics

Most people use social media to post fun photos or comment on other people’s posts. When Jennifer Chang was preparing to move from Cisco to another employer a few years ago, she turned to LinkedIn to post a long letter thanking leadership and her team for shaping her into the professional that she had become.

“A coworker made fun of me and said it was ‘War and Peace,’” Chang says. But when she returned to Cisco two years later, her coworkers were thrilled about her return, which she says felt like coming home. “I truly love the people at Cisco. It’s one of the things that makes it so special.”

Chang joined Cisco in 2011, after leaving Global Technology Resources Inc. (GTRI), where she had marketed technology consulting to defense program managers.

At Cisco she started as an individual contributor and was promoted to a leadership role. After a little more than 10 years, she decided she wanted to expand her skill set. An opportunity became available at the web conferencing giant Zoom for Chang to head U.S. state and local government sales. Zoom was founded by a former Cisco employee, and perhaps ironically, has a beautiful office with great snacks and a cool office culture.

Zoom is also a cloud-native company, another feature that was attractive to Chang.

“It was exciting,” she says. “You want to be able to work for a company like that. I felt super grateful for it.”

Later Chang moved to VMware, a company that offers cloud services. Then Broadcom announced its intention to acquire VMware. She sought guidance from one of her mentors, who told her not to let uncertainty of the acquisition dictate her approach to leading her team. “I loved hearing that from him,” she says. “Folks needed reassurance. There was some attrition, but we were able fill those gaps.”

Chang ended up leaving VMware just before the Broadcom acquisition was finalized and re- turned to Cisco. Luckily she had kept the swag she had accumulated over the years, including the Cisco Denver sign that she displays in the background when she participates in Webex by Cisco video conference calls. Also, she has a (faux) furry barbarian helmet that served as the trophy for the Cisco Barbarians Award, a complex competition that involves a system of narratives about teams within the company and employees voting for winners in six worldwide regions.

The win was 2½ years in the making.

“We had to reset expectations, regain trust and talk about solutions rather than products,” Chang explains. “Customers get turned off when you say, ‘I want to sell you this widget.’ Instead, we say, ‘What are your pain points, what are you trying to solve?””

Chang is now the regional sales director for U.S. Federal at Cisco AppDynamics, where she handles government accounts.

In 2014 Chang graduated from Leadership Denver, a program of the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation. The program brings together civic-minded leaders from for-profit, nonprofit, and government entities to come up with solutions for issues facing communities.

Also, Chang served for three years on the executive committee of Minds Matter of Denver, which helps high school students from low-income families get support outside the classroom and build skill sets so they can attend college.

“They start as sophomores and we continue to mentor them in senior year,” she says, “One hundred percent get into college with scholarships. It’s an amazing program.”

In 2020 Chang was named among the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Denver by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce. She is also on the board for Visit Denver, the nonprofit trade association responsible for marketing metro Denver as a convention and leisure destination.

Nora Caley is a freelance writer specializing in business and food topics.