Qumulo has appointed Douglas Gourlay as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. The announcement came as Bill Richter announced his retirement after nearly eight years at the helm. He has successfully grown the company to over 1,000 customers. He made it an established leader in Scale Anywhere data and storage management. Richter will remain an executive advisor and retain a position on the board.
In Gourlay, the board has found an experienced executive to lead the company forward on its next stage of growth. What is unusual is that Gourlay will participate in a live Q&A in a webinar with other members of the Qumulo leadership. Including CTO Kiran Bhageshpur and VP of Strategic Partnerships, Brandon Whitelaw. The event is on August 1st 2024, at 0800 PST, 1600 BST (Registration Required) and is an unusual degree of openness from the new CEO.
Gourlay commented on LinkedIn about the webinar, “…we’re hosting an ‘AMA style’ podcast/webinar on 1st of August. I doubt we’ll get to every question, but we’ll do our best and will also lay out a good bit of, to quote the inimitable Dave Mathews, I assume singing about client relationships: ‘Where are you going… Where do you go… But I do know one thing is where you are is where I belong, I do know where you go, is where I want to be.'”
Samir Menon, a director at BlackRock, a Qumulo investor, and a Qumulo Board of Directors member, commented, “We are thrilled to have Doug build on our recent successes and lead the expansion of the next growth phase for Qumulo. His accomplished career, vision, and passion for customer success make him ideal for leading Qumulo.”
Richter commented, “I am immensely proud of what we have achieved at Qumulo. As I step down, I am confident that Qumulo’s future is in excellent hands with Doug Gourlay as our new CEO. Doug’s extensive experience, passion for customers and proven leadership make him the perfect fit to lead Qumulo into its next chapter of innovation and growth. I am excited to see the incredible advancements and successes that lie ahead for this exceptional team under his guidance.”
Who is Douglas Gourlay
Gourlay joins from Arista Networks where he was an executive and the General Manager responsible for the product lifecycle (from organic or M&A development through to GTM and customer fulfilment) of the Arista software portfolio. Earlier in his career, he spent five years at Arista Networks as Vice President of Marketing and Systems Engineering. In between these stints, he was Corporate Vice President at Skyport Systems, responsible for Sales, Marketing, Product Management, Systems Engineering, and Customer Success.
He originally joined Arista from Cisco, where he spent ten years. At Cisco he rose to Vice President, Data Center Product Management and Marketing. He also served as an Infantry Officer (Airborne) for eight years in the US military.
Gourlay noted, “I am delighted to join Qumulo. The combination of an outstanding culture and team, innovative on-premises and cloud software, opportunity in Applied AI, and the Scale Anywhere vision drew me here. I look forward to executing our unique vision and strategy for our customers, partners, and channels. To quote America’s first astronaut just before launch: ‘Let’s light this candle!’”
This is Gourlay’s first role as CEO. However, the board believes that they have the right man to lead Qumulo forward. Matt McIlwain, Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group and a Qumulo board member since 2014, commented, “Qumulo enables enterprises to fuel innovation and growth by unlocking the potential of their massive data stores. Doug helped scale Arista Networks from an early-stage start-up to an over $100 billion market cap company, making him the ideal person to guide Qumulo’s next phase of expansion.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Gourlay is making a brave start as CEO with the webinar. Few other CEOs begin their tenure with such as public forum. Most spend time meeting customers and employees to understand the business. With nearly 25 years of experience in the tech industry, Gourlay has the pedigree to do well. He has led large teams and delivered growth in the roles he has taken up. The appointment is a natural progress in his career.
It will be interesting to see how he steers Qumulo in the future. Will he look to evolve the product in any way? Or bring fresh ideas on marketing and strategic direction?
