{"id":18269,"date":"2022-03-03T00:45:14","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T00:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/03\/03\/splunk-hires-gary-steele-from-proofpoint-as-its-new-ceo\/"},"modified":"2022-03-03T00:45:14","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T00:45:14","slug":"splunk-hires-gary-steele-from-proofpoint-as-its-new-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/03\/03\/splunk-hires-gary-steele-from-proofpoint-as-its-new-ceo\/","title":{"rendered":"Splunk hires Gary Steele from Proofpoint as its new CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Big data software company Splunk Inc.<\/a> unveiled its new chief executive officer today, about three months after its longtime leader Doug Merritt stepped down from the company.<\/p>\n

Splunk, which makes software that\u2019s used by enterprises to monitor and analyze data, said<\/a> it has appointed Gary Steele (pictured) as its new CEO. Steele, who is currently the CEO of cybersecurity firm Proofpoint Inc.<\/a>, will assume the role on April 11, when he will also join Splunk\u2019s board of directors.<\/p>\n

Steele will take over Splunk\u2019s hot seat from Merritt, who had led the company for six years until his surprise departure<\/a> last November. Merritt oversaw dramatic growth at Splunk, taking over a company that did just $300 million in annual revenue in 2014. By the time he left, Splunk\u2019s annualized recurring revenue was closer to $3 billion.<\/p>\n

Under Merritt\u2019s tenure, Splunk not only grew its market presence but also transformed itself to a cloud-centric business model, in-line with the much wider industry shift to the cloud. That transformation was largely successful, but the company delivered a string of disappointing quarterly results in the run up to Merritt\u2019s departure. SiliconANGLE co-founder and CEO John Furrier said at the time that Splunk\u2019s board likely felt the need to reboot things to keep up with the scale of the cloud.<\/p>\n

Splunk\u2019s interim CEO and chairman Graham Smith said the company chose Steele because he is a \u201cvisionary leader\u201d with a \u201cdeep understanding of SaaS and recurring revenue models\u201d with tons of experience in the software and cybersecurity space. He added that Steele\u2019s \u201cunwavering commitment to driving innovation and customer success\u201d will be invaluable as Splunk strives towards its goal of becoming a $5 billion revenue company.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re 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,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Steele boasts more than 30 years of experience as a technology executive, spending the past two decades focused on driving Proofpoint. He took over as that company\u2019s founding CEO when it was still an early-stage startup, before overseeing its journey to become an established, publicly traded security-as-a-service provider and a major player in the cybersecurity space.<\/p>\n

Steele said he is honored to join what is one of the \u201cmost respected brands in tech\u201d and a company that sits at the \u201cforefront of security and observability\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve dedicated my career to helping companies around the world safeguard their data, systems and infrastructure, and know firsthand how critical Splunk\u2019s products and solutions have become to customers as they navigate hybrid, multi-cloud environments with increasingly complex attacks and threat actors,\u201d Steele said. \u201cSplunk has incredible talent and an innovative and customer-centric ethos. I can\u2019t wait to get started and earn the right to call myself a Splunker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steele appears to have chosen a good moment to join Splunk, as the company announced<\/a> solid fourth quarter results today, beating Wall Street\u2019s expectations. It\u2019s the second successive quarter in which Splunk has topped<\/a> analyst\u2019s targets.<\/p>\n

The company reported a loss of $140.8 million, with earnings before certain costs such as stock compensation of of 66 cents per share. Revenue for the period came to $901.1 million, up 21% from a year ago. Wall Street was looking for a loss of 19 cents per share on revenue of just $774.1 million, so Splunk beat those targets by some distance.<\/p>\n

Splunk\u2019s fiscal 2022 revenue came to $2.67 billion, up 20%.<\/p>\n

For the current quarter, Splunk offered revenue guidance of $615 million to $635 million, comfortably ahead of Wall Street\u2019s forecast of $604.9 million.<\/p>\n

Once Steele takes over next month, Smith will return to his prior role as chairman of its board of directors. Meanwhile, Splunk announced that its president and chief growth officer Teresa Carlson, will be leaving the company to pursue other career opportunities.<\/p>\n

Carlson\u2019s departure is a surprise, as she had only joined Splunk in April 2021 and it was assumed she would play a key role as it moved forward to a new era. Carlson does however have other interests, notably serving<\/a> as the nonexecutive chair of KnightSwan Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company that\u2019s looking to merge with a promising startup that operates in the cloud computing, cybersecurity or mission intelligence spaces.<\/p>\n

Photo: Splunk<\/h5>\n
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