# Rowan Trollope

> Rowan Trollope is the CEO of Redis, the ubiquitous in-memory data platform powering real-time applications worldwide. A self-taught programmer who started coding on a Commodore 64 at age 11, he brings over 30 years of technology leadership across consumer products, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and collaboration software. Before Redis, he quadrupled revenue at Five9 and spent years at Cisco reinventing its collaboration business. At Redis, he has repositioned the company from a beloved developer caching tool into a critical AI infrastructure layer, launching semantic caching (LangCache), acquiring real-time data platform Decodable, and steering a controversial but successful licensing pivot that he says has produced record growth.

- **Role:** Chief Executive Officer at Redis
- **Organizations:** Redis, Five9, Cisco, Symantec, Smartsheet (board), Disruptive Technologies (board), Neat.no (advisor/investor)
- **From:** Canada
- **Nationality:** Canadian-American
- **Known for:** Built Five9 into a billion-dollar business, quadrupling revenue over 4.5 years as CEO, Expanded Five9 market capitalization to over $5.4 billion, Led Cisco's collaboration business pivot to SaaS, overseeing WebEx Teams, Cisco TelePresence, and UC Manager serving millions globally

## Career timeline

- **1983** — Family relocated from Canada to the United States; began computing on Commodore 64 at age 11, inspired by the film WarGames
- **~1987** — Secured first programming job at age 15 in a data processing center
- **1990s** — Built software in consumer and enterprise spaces; began accumulating patents in computer security and operating systems
- **2009** — Filed patent for commodity hardware-based parental control device (issued 2018 as US 9,946,852 B2)
- **2010s** — Served as Group President, SMB and Symantec.cloud at Symantec; led SaaS strategy and sales, marketing, product development
- **2012** — Joined Cisco as SVP and General Manager of the Collaboration Technology Group; led reinvention of Cisco's collaboration business, pivoting to SaaS
- **2013-2018** — At Cisco, oversaw WebEx Teams (Cisco Spark), Cisco TelePresence, UC Manager, WebEx - products used by millions globally
- **2018** — Left Cisco to join Five9 as CEO; began building cloud contact center company
- **2019** — Joined Neat.no as advisor and early investor alongside Zoom founder Eric Yuan
- **2021** — Five9 received Zoom acquisition offer; deal terminated by mutual agreement September 30, 2021
- **2022** — Resigned from Five9 (October 10, effective November 28); Five9 market cap exceeded $5.4 billion under his tenure
- **2023-02** — Joined Redis as CEO; spent first six months studying the product, getting hands-on experience, and analyzing the AI market opportunity
- **2023** — Assembled new executive team including CTO Benjamin Renaud, CRO Spencer Tuttle, CMO Keith Messick, CCO Tom Rabaut
- **2024** — Oversaw Redis licensing transition to dual source-available licenses to prevent hyperscaler monetization; reported record growth
- **2025-09** — Announced acquisition of real-time data platform Decodable and public preview of LangCache semantic caching service at Redis Released 2025

## Achievements

- Built Five9 into a billion-dollar business, quadrupling revenue over 4.5 years as CEO
- Expanded Five9 market capitalization to over $5.4 billion
- Led Cisco's collaboration business pivot to SaaS, overseeing WebEx Teams, Cisco TelePresence, and UC Manager serving millions globally
- Holds multiple patents in computer security and operating systems
- Received US Patent 9,946,852 B2 for commodity hardware-based parental control device
- Named among Top 100 Entrepreneurs of 2022 by Alumni Spotlight
- Navigated Redis through a successful licensing transition that produced record growth
- Orchestrated Redis acquisition of Decodable and launch of LangCache - cutting LLM API costs by up to 70%
- Board member of Smartsheet and Disruptive Technologies
- Self-taught programmer who secured a professional programming job at age 15

## Latest updates

- **2025-09** — Redis announced acquisition of real-time data platform Decodable and public preview of LangCache semantic caching service, which can reduce LLM API costs by up to 70% and deliver 15x faster response times for cache hits
- **2025-09** — Trollope visited India to announce Redis's expanded AI strategy, emphasizing the country's growing developer market
- **2024** — Redis completed licensing transition to dual source-available licenses; Trollope reported record growth following the change
- **2023** — Assembled new executive leadership team at Redis including CTO, CRO, CMO, CCO, CFO, and CAO
- **2023-02** — Started as CEO of Redis, succeeding co-founder Ofer Bengal

## Links

- Website: https://redis.io/company/team/rowan-trollope/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rowant/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/rowantrollope
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RedisLabs

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/rowan-trollope
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-15