Jonny has been living in the US for the past 4 years.

After leaving Sullivan in 2010, and following a year out, Jonny went to Queen’s University where he studied Computing and Information Technology (CIT) with a professional placement.

He began working for Options IT, in their Belfast office, in 2017 and after some time training in other regions and a 3 month secondment to the US, he moved into a permanent role in the NY office in 2018.

Options IT supports the finance industry as a managed services provider for large banks, hedge funds and other financial institutions.

“My role as a Senior Database Administrator is focused on infrastructure, resiliency and security. I am the lead engineer for North America responsible for maintaining all client databases, security, access, audit, cloud migration and more, which is vital for compliance in the financial industry”.

As well as the very technical aspect of his role, Jonny meets regularly with his clients, usually Chief Executives or Chief Technical Officers to maintain good working relationships and resolve any outstanding business concerns, as well as promoting business sales.

Jonny (second from left) pictured with colleagues at an awards ceremony

Jonny is based in the heart of New York’s financial district on Liberty Street, which is just beside Wall Street and is now Head of Region for his team, covering North America, as well as clients in other time zones

While he has no intention of leaving the States in the foreseeable future, he does regularly get back home to visit.

“As part of my move, my company support a quarterly visit back to NI, for management meetings and to see the Belfast team, as well as family. I’ll be home again at Christmas and looking forward to seeing everyone”.

He’s also kept in touch with his friends from school.

“Many of my close group of Sullivan friends have relocated to other parts of NI as well as England, Europe & America but despite this we all keep in touch and meet yearly for a drink and a catch up at Christmas as well as visits in between.”

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