Godfrey Sullivan

Early life and career

Sullivan grew up in Waco, Texas, and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baylor University in 1975. In 1981, he joined Apple Inc., where he worked for 11 years in sales, marketing and operations. In 1992, he moved on to Autodesk, where he worked for eight years under CEO Carol Bartz, He served as President of Hyperion Solutions from October 2001 until April 2007, and CEO from July 2004 until April 2007,

In the mid-1980s, Sullivan began participating in Ride and Tie, a mountain race where teams of two people alternate between riding a horse and running. He raced for 25 years, describing it as "probably the most fun I've had with my clothes on," and retired from the sport in 2010 in order to focus on Splunk. Sullivan advocated for hiring more women within Splunk leadership and the technology sector as a whole. He retired from the CEO position in November 2015, and was succeeded by Splunk SVP Doug Merritt. He continues to serve as chairman of Splunk's board of directors.