Databricks appoints Naveen Zutshi as Chief Information Officer

• Tasked to lead global IT functions
• Formerly the CIO of Palo Alto Networks 

Databricks, has announced the appointment of  Naveen Zutshi as the company’s chief information officer (CIO). 

In a statement, the data and AI company said Zutshi will lead the global information technology functions at Databricks and brings decades of IT leadership expertise to the role. He will join the company’s executive leadership team.

“Naveen’s ability to build and lead world-class IT teams and his experience driving business transformation in high-growth organisations makes him an ideal fit for Databricks’ next chapter of growth,” said Ali Ghodsi, chief executive officer and co-founder of Databricks. 

“As we continue to innovate the lakehouse platform and scale as an organisation, it's critical that our processes and technology infrastructure evolve to support the future needs of our customers, partners and employees,” said Ali.

Zutshi joins Databricks from Palo Alto Networks, where he most recently spent six years as CIO overseeing IT strategy and operations, helping the company scale rapidly and expand into new security categories.

Previously, Zutshi also served as the senior vice president of Technology at Gap Inc. He oversaw global infrastructure, operations and security for the company, championing the transition to a cloud-based infrastructure and helping scale the retailer’s e-commerce business.

“Databricks is trailblazing the future of data architecture with its lakehouse platform and I am thrilled to be part of the journey as CIO,” said Naveen Zutshi. 

“I look forward to collaborating with the exceptional team at Databricks to better support our customers and enable rapid scale of our business,” he added.