Graylog Taps Longtime LogRhythm Boss Andy Grolnick As CEO

‘Having served as CEO of LogRhythm for more than a decade, Andy has deep, inside knowledge of the log management business,’ says outgoing Graylog CEO Logan Wray.

Graylog has snagged the longtime CEO of security information and event management (SIEM) giant LogRhythm to help the log management upstart expand its business.

The Houston-based cybersecurity vendor has tasked Andy Grolnick with accelerating Graylog’s growth and innovation path heading into 2021 by helping organizations and IT professionals better solve security, compliance, operational and DevOps issues. Grolnick replaces Logan Wray, who is retiring after serving as Graylog’s CEO since July 2017.

“Having served as CEO of LogRhythm for more than a decade, Andy has deep, inside knowledge of the log management business,” Wray said in a statement. “His strategic vision and his ability to execute are a winning combination for Graylog as it enters into its next phase of growth.”

[Related: Security Vendor LogRhythm Replaces Longtime CEO With Outside Hire]

Grolnick took over as LogRhythm’s president and CEO in 2005 – two years after the company was founded – and raised $126.3 million through seven rounds of outside funding before selling the SIEM mainstay to Thoma Bravo in July 2018 for a reported $525 million, according to Momentum Cyber. A year later, Thoma Bravo brought in Attunity President Mark Logan to replace Grolnick atop LogRhythm.

“This is an exciting time to join Graylog, and I’m looking forward to working with this talented organization,” Grolnick said in a statement. “The company has built an impressive reputation in the log management market and is commitment to providing unparalleled customer experience and solutions that foster customer success.”

Graylog was founded in 2009 and has built its platform to open standards so that customers can capture, store and enable real-time analysis of log data. The company has raised $9.4 million in three rounds of outside funding and employs 51 people, up from 38 staffers a year earlier, according to Crunchbase and LinkedIn. Grolnick wasn’t immediately available for additional comment.

Graylog is a significantly smaller organization than LogRhythm, which had grown to 670 employees under Grolnick’s stewardship before contracting by 8 percent to 617 employees in the year following the company’s sale to Thoma Bravo, according to LinkedIn. Since Grolnick’s departure from LogRhythm, the company’s headcount has fallen an additional 11 percent to 550 employees, LinkedIn found.

Graylog works with both reseller partners like AiNET, Lockheed Martin, Netways and OmniIT as well as managed security service providers (MSSPs) such as Blue Tech, Defence Logic, StrataDefense and Yellow Dog Networks, according to the company’s website.

The company in June announced the authentication module for its new Illuminate application to help normalize and easily correlate authentication data across different types of data sources. Also in June, Graylog said it launched a customer success program to help clients get off to a fast start and ensure they know where to find educational materials, documentation, how-to videos and webinars.