# Doug Merritt

> Doug Merritt is the chairman, chief executive officer and president of Aviatrix, where the former Splunk CEO is applying a career spent navigating enterprise-software transitions to cloud networking and security. He co-founded early cloud application company Icarian, held senior roles at PeopleSoft, SAP and Cisco, led Splunk's shift from on-premises licensing to cloud SaaS, and returned from retirement to run a company he once knew as a customer.

- **Role:** Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President at Aviatrix
- **Organizations:** Aviatrix, Splunk, Cisco, SAP, PeopleSoft, Baynote, Icarian, Oracle, SignalFire
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science, University of the Pacific
- **Known for:** Led Splunk's transformation from an on-premises perpetual-license company with $220 million in annual recurring revenue to a cloud SaaS company with $3.12 billion in ARR., At SAP, helped build the governance, risk and compliance solutions division from under $10 million to more than $800 million in license sales over five years., Co-founded Icarian, an early cloud-based application company that was acquired by Workstream.

## Career timeline

- **1989-1991** — Worked as an account executive at Oracle.
- **1996-2001** — Co-founded and served as CEO of Icarian, an early cloud application company later acquired by Workstream.
- **2001-2004** — Led PeopleSoft's Human Capital Management product division as group vice president and general manager.
- **2005-2011** — Held executive roles at SAP, including president of products and technology and membership on the extended executive board.
- **2011-2012** — Served as CEO of behavioral-personalization company Baynote.
- **2012-2014** — Served as senior vice president of products and solutions at Cisco.
- **2014-2015** — Joined Splunk as senior vice president of field operations.
- **2015-2021** — Served as president and CEO of Splunk, leading its transition from on-premises perpetual licensing to cloud SaaS.
- **2023-present** — Serves as chairman, chief executive officer and president of Aviatrix.
- **2026** — Began hosting Aviatrix's In Progress interview series and publicly advanced a containment-centered view of cloud security.

## Achievements

- Led Splunk's transformation from an on-premises perpetual-license company with $220 million in annual recurring revenue to a cloud SaaS company with $3.12 billion in ARR.
- At SAP, helped build the governance, risk and compliance solutions division from under $10 million to more than $800 million in license sales over five years.
- Co-founded Icarian, an early cloud-based application company that was acquired by Workstream.
- Completed nearly 100 triathlons.
- Expanded Aviatrix's focus from multicloud networking toward Zero Trust protection for cloud networks and workloads.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Published 'The Center of Gravity Moved: Black Hat 2026' through Aviatrix.
- **2026-07** — Continued hosting Aviatrix's biweekly In Progress podcast, including a conversation with Zero Trust creator John Kindervag.
- **2026-05** — Discussed first-principles leadership and AI-era judgment on the Futureproof by Xano podcast.
- **2026-03** — Discussed cloud attack surfaces with EM360Tech and cybersecurity themes on NYSE Live around RSAC 2026.
- **2025-02** — Explained his process-centered philosophy of daily effort, long-term thinking and learning from failure on Culture Leaders Daily.

## Links

- Website: https://aviatrix.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-m-33169
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AviatrixSystems

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/doug-merritt
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-27