Splunk ropes in Gary Steele as CEO and member of Board of Directors

Splunk has announced that Gary Steele has been appointed Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the company’s Board of Directors, effective April 11, 2022.

Steele is a highly regarded technology executive with over 30 years of experience and a proven track record of successfully scaling SaaS operations and growing multi-billion dollar global enterprises. Steele was the founding CEO of Proofpoint, and over the past two decades, he led the company’s growth from an early-stage start-up to a leading, publicly traded security-as-a-service provider to some of the world's best known organizations. As a public company, Proofpoint had a long history of strong growth combined with compelling free cash flow. Prior to Proofpoint, Steele was CEO of Portera and held various leadership roles at Sybase, Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard.

Graham Smith, Interim CEO and Chair of Splunk, says, “Gary is a visionary leader whose software and cybersecurity expertise, deep understanding of SaaS and recurring revenue models, and unwavering commitment to driving innovation and customer success on a global scale will be invaluable to Splunk on our path to $5 billion and beyond. We’re thrilled to welcome Gary to the Splunk team, and look forward to working with him to further scale the business and extend the value we provide our customers and partners.”

According to Steele, “Splunk has built one of the most respected brands in tech and is at the forefront of security and observability. I’m honored to join the company at such an important moment – for both Splunk and the industry. I’ve dedicated my career to helping companies around the world safeguard their data, systems and infrastructure, and know firsthand how critical Splunk’s products and solutions have become to customers as they navigate hybrid, multi-cloud environments with increasingly complex attacks and threat actors. Splunk is executing against a tremendous opportunity, and I look forward to working with the team to ensure the business reaches its full potential. Splunk has incredible talent and an innovative and customer-centric ethos. I can’t wait to get started and earn the right to call myself a Splunker.”

In connection with this announcement, Graham Smith, who has served as Interim CEO since November 2021, will return to his role as Chair of the Splunk Board when Steele joins the company.

Steve Newberry, Lead Independent Director of the Splunk Board, comments, “We thank Graham for his leadership as Interim CEO while the Board conducted its search for Splunk’s next CEO. The Board is focused on ensuring a seamless transition and remains committed to driving long-term value for our stockholders.”