Marilyn Nagel

Marilyn joined Watermark as CEO in 2011, leading strategic initiatives designed to help exceptional women in the Bay Area enhance their personal and professional impact. As CEO of Watermark, Marilyn fulfills her passion for gender diversity by promoting inclusive, diverse and well-balanced workplaces. She is a frequent speaker on the topics of gender equality and women’s board access, as well as a blogger for Huffington Post and several other publications.

Prior to joining Watermark, Marilyn was Chief Diversity Officer at Cisco. Prior to joining Cisco, Marilyn worked in academia, leadership development and organizational development for nearly 30 years, in both the private non-profit sectors, and for Fortune 100 companies. Marilyn holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Public Administration, and has an additional master’s degree in Social and Systemic Studies.

She has served on the Board of Directors of Professional Business Women of California (PBWC), National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. (NACME) and is currently on the Watermark board as well as the advisory board of Big Pink Ribbon and the Center for Talent and Innovation. She is the founder of the Silicon Valley CDO group and the former co-chair of the Conference Board Global Diversity group.

Marilyn was most recently winner of the 2012 Women of Influence award from the San Jose Business Journal, the 2011 YWCA Women Leading the Way TWIN award, the 2010 Women Worth Watching award from the Diversity Journal, Black Enterprise Top Executives in Diversity 2011 and the 2009 Diversity Officer Leadership award.