Mark Burns

Commander
DISC Type : D

Product Management Leader at Cisco

Greater Boston, United States

Overview

Mark is a senior leader with 25 years of experience in the software industry, specializing in observability, security, and AI. He has held director-level product management and marketing roles at industry leaders including Cisco, New Relic, Dynatrace, and Elastic. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Princeton University.

He worked directly with Geoffrey Moore, the author of "Crossing the Chasm, " on strategies for taking small companies mainstream.

Personality Overview

Impact-Driven

Candid & Clear

Strong-Willed

More than the product, they care about the impact of the product.  They respond well to strong and respectful communication. They prefer to be the ones controlling the conversation or defining the terms.

Topics They Care About

AI in Observability
His expertise lies in embedding AI capabilities into observability and security platforms, and he has recently spoken on AI-powered observability at Splunk, a Cisco company.
Go-to-Market Strategy
Has extensive experience leading GTM, product marketing, and sales enablement, focusing on positioning enterprise solutions for developers, ITOps, and executives.
Competitive Intelligence
His leadership roles at multiple major tech firms have consistently included a focus on competitive intelligence and market positioning.

Media Appearances

Mark has no verified media appearances

Work History

3-2025
Product Management Leader at Cisco
6-2022 - 4-2025
Senior Product Management / Product Marketing / Competitive Intelligence Leader at New Relic, Inc.
3-2020 - 6-2022
Director of Product Marketing at Elastic
1-2019 - 3-2020
Director of Product Management at OutSystems
10-2010 - 7-2018
Senior Director of Product Management / Product Marketing at Dynatrace

Education

1989 - 1993
Bachelor of Science (BS) from Princeton University
1985 - 1989
High School from Palmer High School

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 17 Location : Greater Boston, United States Job Level : Mid-senior Designation : Product Management Leader at Cisco
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Insights For Selling To Mark

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Refer to testimonials from well-known industry leaders
  • Help them weigh the risks by sharing objective proof points without becoming too analytical
  • Get to the point quickly instead of spending time doing small talk

DONT's

  • Don’t focus on process and rules, give the impression of being a ‘gets it done’ person
  • Avoid being a storyteller and don’t try to oversell
  • Don’t take too much time in sending them information if they ask for any

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Mark is

  • Confidence in impact is paramount to them, followed by a sense of achievement and ROI.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Mark

  • If they are not convinced, they will have no hesitation in telling you the same.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Mark move?

  • They can reach decisions fairly quickly if they are convinced.
  • Can Mark take some risk or not?

  • They don’t mind risks but can be quite binary about them.

You And Mark

Personality Compatibility


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