December 2023 Living Our Values Award Winners

Every quarter we recognize five individual Splunkers and one Splunk team who truly embody our core values: Innovative, Passionate, Disruptive, Open and Fun. These special Splunkers have all been nominated by their colleagues for their commitment to living these values everyday! Learn more about each winner and why they were selected below.

Innovative

Melanie Gudesblatt

Technical Enablement Partner Program Manager, Global Technical Enablement | Massachusetts, USA

Melanie lives our core value of innovation everyday by driving positive change through process improvement. Melanie has a knack for spotting opportunities for optimization and rolling up her sleeves to capitalize on them. The processes she's created are becoming standards for teams across EDU because of how well they work. Splunkers get excited when they learn they'll be working with her because they know she'll be finding ways to help them work smarter and faster.

Passionate

JoAnn McKay

Director, Executive Briefing Programs, Customer Advocacy & Executive Programs | San Francisco, CA, USA

JoAnn consistently goes above and beyond to make sure that every customer executive interaction is flawless, and she does so with a smile and great attitude. She effuses Splunk passion in every personal interaction, be it with customers or colleagues. JoAnn is involved in nearly all executive outreach requests (and that’s a lot!). It's apparent to her coworkers that she loves this company and her job. JoAnn's passion is inspiring and greatly appreciated.  

Disruptive

Nikolas Armendariz

Staff Technical Support Engineer, Security and Observability Technical Support | Minnesota, USA

Nik is a constant beacon of what a great TSE is. He is courteous, humble and respectful. But he can also be the person that has to ask the hard questions that people, customers and fellow Splunkers have to answer to make progress. He is always available to help make Knowledge Based Articles as well as just needing an ear to vent about issues that the team is facing both Splunk wise as well as in life. One of his team members said, “I cannot imagine where this team would be without him, but I can guarantee that it would not be as good of a team without him and his guidance, mentorship as well as leadership."

Open

Matt Hill

Sales Engineer, Global Shared Services | Maryland, USA

Matt is said to have a great work ethic and one of the best attitudes at Splunk. He is always willing to jump in and support workshop requirements at a moment's notice. Because he’s willing to step into these workshops, he’s been vital to supporting numerous customers (who have also given him great feedback)!

Fun - The Roger David Carasso Award

Sydney Smith

Strategic Partner Marketing Specialist, Product Marketing | North Carolina, USA

Fellow Splunkers say that Sydney is the textbook example of a culture creator. She makes people on the team laugh when times are hard, she shares funny stories, and when it comes time to work hard, she digs in, delivers strong outputs, and does it all with a smile. 

Sound like people you’d want to work with? Check out our open roles today!