Ex-Cisco exec Warrior joins electric car startup; Chuck Robbins says he’s ‘proud’

Padmasree Warrior, the former chief technology leader at Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) who lost out to Chuck Robbins in the battle to replace John Chambers as CEO last summer, is now taking on Tesla. Warrior is taking over as the CEO of U.S. operations for Chinese electric vehicle startup NextEV.

Warrior, who is one of the world’s best-known female technology executives, was named to the post Wednesday.She left Cisco in September.

“I wanted to be part of creating something that is bigger and different,” she told The Wall Street Journal.

In a Tweet, Robbins congratulated Warrior:

“Congratulations @Padmasree! We are proud of you and wish you luck!”

Warrior, 55, also recently joined the board of directors at Microsoft.

NextEV, which is backed by China-based Tencent and is looking to raise $1 billion, is developing vehicles that it believes will pose a threat to EV leader Tesla.

Warrior also is to lead software development and user experience efforts.

“I really care about solving big global problems,” Warrior told Bloomberg news. “It’s not just electric cars. It’s how can you use the mobile Internet era to bring the user much closer to the brand — we call it user enterprise. The vision is not just about technology, but changing the experience.”

Warrior was one of several senior Cisco executives who left as Robbins assumed control. At least one other has taken over as CEO of a startup.

Reports CRN: “Rob Lloyd, former president, development and sales, took a CEO job at transportation company Hyperloop Technologies in September.”