Splunk has named Gary Steele as its new CEO, three months after the surprise resignation of longtime CEO Doug Merritt.

"The board is focused on identifying a leader with a proven track record of scaling operations and growing multi-billion-dollar enterprises," Merritt said in a statement at the time.

We now know that leader is Gary Steele, who was the founding CEO of SaaS (software-as-a-service) security vendor Proofpoint, a company he led for nearly 20 years. During that time, Steele navigated both an IPO in 2012 and a private equity buyout from Thoma Bravo last year. He will start on April 11, when he will also take a seat on Splunk's board.

Best known for its security, logging and monitoring software, Splunk has shifted its business model focus from on-premises toward cloud-based SaaS consumption, which plays to Steele's strengths.

"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," Splunk's interim CEO Graham Smith said in a statement.