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Justin Mullen (July 1970 – December 2024)
Justin Mullen, a native of Newry, was a pioneer in the software industry and Big Data for over 30 years until his untimely passing on the 6 December 2024 at the age of 54 years. Combining a friendly, down-to-earth personality with deep expertise, he built and sold multiple successful companies over the years. Justin worked with major American, UK, and European corporations, making deals over £200 million, and at his peak, employing 80 people in the UK, Europe and the USA.
The son of Jerome Mullen, Honorary Consul of Poland in Northern Ireland, and Margaret Mullen of Warrenpoint, Justin attended St. Peter's Primary School, Cloughrea, and St. Colman’s College, Newry, before studying at the University of Portsmouth in computer science.
His natural aptitude for technology led him to volunteer at a local tech company, which soon recognised his potential and hired him full-time. He gained very valuable early experience but also showed his leadership qualities that was to mark him out for the career that followed. Throughout his career, his enormous self-confidence and native charm stood to him, enabling him to inspire teams, secure partnerships and drive innovation.
Justin took up contracting assignments from the early years, building experience with some of the biggest public and private companies in the UK. In 1998, he founded his first company, SMI Solutions, offering IT service management solutions, followed later by Corviz, which distributed Nimbass software solutions.
He brought over a top IT professional from South Africa who became a partner and established a new company K2 Workflow to distribute their highly successful software to the corporate and enterprise markets throughout the UK and Europe. The company was acquired in 2005.
Over the years, he founded several companies, including ‘’Datalytics’’, focused on enterprise data management, Big Data analytics, governance, and business process improvement.
Each venture achieved significant success, resulting in the sale of the company to an Indian Corporation, allowing him and his new partner to concentrate on the significant software product he had acquired.
Justin's new company, DataOps.live, developed the software to manage the full lifecycle of data applications on the Snowflake platform. With DataOps.live, he and his partner brought major venture capital investment into the business, which led to a ground- breaking partnership with Snowflake Inc., a multi-billion-dollar cloud storage company in California. Snowflake became a critical user of DataOps software, highlighting Justin's expertise and innovation in the field of Data Ops. In 2024, DataOps.live was named Snowflake’s Global Data Cloud Product Growth Partner of the Year, a testament to Justin’s vision and leadership.
He was totally skilled in understanding organisations, their data operations, and, most importantly, the challenges facing senior management and board-level leaders across industries. This unique ability allowed him to bridge the gap between technical solutions and strategic business goals.
Justin met his wife, Oksana, a Ukrainian national, in London. Due to technical reasons, they initially lived in Bulgaria where they got married in July 2007, before settling in Kingston upon Thames and later Cobham, Surrey, with their two children, Francheska and Izabella. Known for his generosity, Justin welcomed Oksana’s family into their home during the recent war in Ukraine, a time marked by tragedy when Oksana’s mother passed away during her escape with her family in March 2022.
Justin was a great leader, full of energy and enthusiasm, and was highly regarded for his expertise throughout the world. His infectious optimism, hearty laugh, and uplifting personality touched everyone he met. His approach to life and business was straightforward: ‘Know your product, and know your customer.’ Balancing meticulous attention to detail with a love for life, he became the heart and soul of every gathering.
Sadly, his cancer intervened during one of the most significant developments of his career. Despite the challenges, he remained deeply involved in his business and family until his passing on December 6, 2024. His partner Guy Adams, along with the exceptional team at DataOps.live, continues to build on Justin’s legacy, ensuring that his work in Big Data, data operations, and business strategy lives on. He leaves behind a huge legacy of opportunity and innovation.
A memorial service and cremation was held in Cobham, Surrey in December, and on Saturday 1 Feb, a memorial Mass and celebration of his life will be held in St Peters Church Warrenpoint at 12 noon, and afterwards in the nearby Whistledown Hotel.
He is survived and deeply mourned by his wife Oksana, his daughters Francheska and Izabella, father Jerome, mother Margaret, brother Paul, sister Colette and her husband Ian and their children Ryan, Ross and Asha.
