Contributor

Marilyn Nagel

Co-Founder and Chief Mission Officer NQuotient

Marilyn Nagel 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 leverages her passion for gender diversity by promoting inclusive, diverse, and well-balanced workplaces.

Prior to joining Watermark, Marilyn was Chief Diversity Officer (Inclusion and Diversity, I&D) at Cisco, where she led the global I&D team on projects that require large-scale change management, talent planning, and learning. As Cisco’s Chief Diversity Officer, her responsibilities included facilitating the global I&D council, which set the I&D agenda and strategy for the company, and measured progress toward I&D goals. Marilyn also developed the strategic plan for I&D cross-functional teams. She continually looked for ways to help Cisco stay innovative, by driving policy changes to create a more inclusive environment.

Prior to joining Cisco, Marilyn worked in academia, leadership development, operations management, and organizational development for nearly 30 years, in both the private non-profit sector and for Fortune 100 companies.

Marilyn holds bachelors and master’s degrees in public administration, and has an additional master’s degree in social and systemic studies, with a focus on organizational systems.

She serves on the Board of Directors of Professional Business Women of California, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. (NACME), and Watermark, and has been a co-chair of the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force at the Center for Work-Life Policy.

Listed multiple times in “Who’s Who – Women in Business,” winner of the YWCA Women Leading the Way TWIN Award for 2011, Women Worth Watching award from the Diversity Journal 2010, Black Enterprise Top Executives in Diversity 2011, and Diversity Officer Leadership Award 2009, Marilyn is a frequent speaker on the topics of executive presence, developing women, as well as building a culture of inclusion.