Splunk nabs Proofpoint boss take over as new CEO

Steele was the founding CEO at cybersecurity vendor Proofpoint and will join Splunk on 11 April

Gary Steele is leaving cybersecurity vendor Proofpoint to take over as Splunk's new CEO, the data software company has announced.

Steele was the founding CEO of Proofpoint and has overseen the company's growth from a startup to a publicly traded security-as-a-service provider.

He will take over as permanent CEO on 11 April following Doug Merritt's decision to step down in November last year, just five months after Splunk received $1bn worth of private equity funding from Silver Lake Investment.

"Splunk has built one of the most respected brands in tech and is at the forefront of security and observability. I'm honoured to join the company at such an important moment - for both Splunk and the industry," Steele said.

"I've dedicated my career to helping companies around the world safeguard their data, systems and infrastructure, and know first-hand 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."

Prior to his time at Proofpoint, Steele was CEO of Portera and has also held various leadership roles at Sybase, Sun Microsystems and HP.

Smith, who has served as interim CEO since November 2021, will now return to his role as chair of the Splunk board when Steele joins the company.

"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 $5bn and beyond," Smith said.

"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."