Cisco Systems Inc.’s former chief executive officer and current executive chairman, John Chambers, will step down from the company’s board of directors in December.

Chambers (pictured), who served as CEO from 1995 to 2015 before handing over the reins to Chuck Robbins, Monday told the company’s board that he will not be standing for re-election in December. Instead, Robbins will assume the role of executive chairman when Cisco holds its annual shareholders meeting on Dec. 11.

Cisco hasn’t yet said if Robbins promotion to executive chairman is permanent or not. Generally, most large enterprises prefer to have two different individuals in the CEO and chairman roles, in order to prevent one person having too much of a hold over the company’s decision-making.

Under his leadership, Chambers dragged Cisco from relative obscurity to become one of the largest companies in the world. He joined Cisco in 1991 as its head of sales, at a time when the company had just 503 employees and an annual turnover of $183 million. By 1995, when he was promoted to CEO, Cisco had grown its workforce to 3,827, with sales of $2.2 billion per year.

With Chambers at the helm, Cisco’s growth accelerated further, and in 2002 it briefly surpassed Microsoft Corp. to become the richest company in the world, with a market value of $555.4 billion. Cisco was unable to maintain that pole position, however, thanks to stalled growth that can be partly be blamed on the rise of cloud computing. But today it remains one of the world’s most profitable enterprises, with an annual revenue of $49.24 billion at the last count.

“He built Cisco around a culture of integrity and innovation that will continue to serve our employees, partners and customers for decades to come,” Robbins said of the former CEO. “I have no doubt he will continue to have a lasting impact with his future endeavors.”

Chambers isn’t quite done with Cisco, however, as he will be given the honorary title of chairman emeritus, though he’ll no longer have an active role at the company. His name may still pop up from time to time though. He has taken an active interest in emerging technologies, having recently invested in two drone startups, Airware and Dedrone Holdings Inc..

Cisco said that at its next annual meeting, it will reduce the size of its board from 12 to 11 members.

Image: Cisco