# Douglas Gourlay

> Douglas Gourlay is the Seattle-based president and CEO of Qumulo, a former U.S. Army infantry officer and a veteran of Cisco, Arista Networks, Skyport Systems and Capture2. Across more than two decades in technology, he has helped shape data-center networking, security and cloud software, accumulated more than 70 systems and networking patents, and developed a leadership philosophy built around preparation, fast decisions and customer problems that materially change cost or capability.

- **Role:** President and Chief Executive Officer at Qumulo
- **Organizations:** Qumulo, Arista Networks, Cisco Systems, Skyport Systems, Capture2, U.S. Army, IKON Office Solutions
- **Education:** ROTC participation; degree not publicly specified, Auburn University, Studies in cybersecurity and cyber warfare; degree not publicly specified, Norwich University
- **Known for:** Filed or holds more than 70 patents in systems and networking technologies., Helped lead the initial development of Cisco's Nexus data-center networking product line., Led revenue and growth responsibility for Arista Networks' software portfolio as vice president and general manager.

## Career timeline

- **1992-2000** — Served as a U.S. Army infantry officer, including airborne service.
- **1997-1998** — Worked as a network engineer at IKON Office Solutions.
- **1998-2010** — Spent roughly a decade at Cisco, rising to vice president in data-center product management and marketing and helping lead early Nexus product development.
- **2009-2014** — Held vice-president roles in marketing and systems engineering at Arista Networks.
- **2014-2017** — Served as corporate vice president at Skyport Systems across go-to-market and customer functions for secure infrastructure.
- **2017** — Became CEO of government-market software company Capture2.
- **Before 2024** — Returned to Arista Networks and ultimately became vice president and general manager of its software portfolio.
- **2024** — Appointed president and CEO of Qumulo and joined its board.
- **2025** — Reported record revenue and profit at Qumulo alongside more than 400% year-over-year growth in cloud data storage after its October 2024 cloud-native launch.
- **2026** — Continued outlining Qumulo's strategy around global data access, AI infrastructure, edge systems and distributed file storage.

## Achievements

- Filed or holds more than 70 patents in systems and networking technologies.
- Helped lead the initial development of Cisco's Nexus data-center networking product line.
- Led revenue and growth responsibility for Arista Networks' software portfolio as vice president and general manager.
- Took over Qumulo as president and CEO in July 2024 and joined the company's board.
- Under his leadership, Qumulo reported more than 400% year-over-year growth in cloud data storage after launching Cloud Native Qumulo on Azure and AWS in October 2024.

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Outlined Qumulo's next phase with Cisco around ransomware resilience, hardware flexibility and moving enterprise data to available AI compute.
- **2026-03** — Argued that globally distributed file systems can replace traditional WAN-acceleration appliances by reducing round-trip dependency.
- **2026-01** — Wrote after attending Davos that data readiness and infrastructure, rather than model capability alone, were central constraints on enterprise AI.
- **2025-11** — Explained his product-building philosophy and emphasized integrity in software supply chains and company culture.
- **2025-06** — Qumulo announced two new board members and said its cloud-data-storage business had grown more than 400% year over year after the October 2024 launch.

## Links

- Website: https://qumulo.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dgourlay
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/dgourlay

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/douglas-gourlay
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-26