An Irishman in Utah

~~~ Guest Post by Gavin H~~~

My name is Gavin Heneghan and I joined EMC in Cork, Ireland in May 2000. Back then EMC was primarily a storage company and I had the pleasure of working in Symmetrix Technical Support. I didn’t know at the time that I would spend the next 11 years in that group.

EMC colleagues in Cork - 2009

In early summer of 2011 I was at a Customer Service town hall meeting in Cork where it was announced that EMC was opening a Technical Support Center in Utah. This immediately caught my interest as I had previously spent a very enjoyable 6 months in Arizona in the 1990’s while working at Intel, and I knew that Utah was pretty close by. By the way did I also mention that I also have a strange fascination with snow . . . something we don’t get a huge amount of in Ireland. So after some serious discussion with my wife Eithne, I reached out to my senior leadership inquiring about opportunities at the new center. This put the wheels in motion and after some conversations I found myself in Utah on the 1st of August to help Vance, Stephanie and Jessica welcome and onboard the first 30 Technical Support Engineers into the center. A pivotal moment over the next 2 weeks was a lunch at Sundance with Vance, on the way there Vance had pointed out Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon, and later that evening I returned there to take a closer look. I was so taken with the beauty of falls and remember thinking what shame it would be if my family didn’t get to experience them. It was at this time that I decided that I would like to move to Utah. Luckily for me Vance & Co also agreed. Over the next 3 months I would end up sharing my time between Utah and Cork, eventually relocating with my wife and two kids, Eabha and Jack (aged 6 and 4 at the time) in November 2011.

Bridal Veil Falls - August 2011

Flying to Utah - November 2011

This was the start of not just a new career opportunity but also the start of a new chapter in our lives and new adventure.  It sure didn’t take long for us to start enjoying some great things Utah has to offer.  We learned to ski pretty quickly and when the weather got better I took up mountain biking.

Jack's 1st ski lesson

Eabha's 1st ski lesson

My 1st MTB adventure in Moab with EMC colleagues

Subsequent MTB trip to Gooseberry Mesa 

We are now in our fifth year in Utah and it has been a blast. EMC has grown to over 1,200 employees and has been voted the best technology company to work for in Utah. In 2015 after, 15 great years in customer service, I joined the IT 3rd Platform team, helping build the team from the ground up in Utah. I currently lead this team as well as being part of the Mobile Experience Leadership team. I am super grateful to EMC for the last 16 years and for giving me the opportunity to not only experience this wonderful adventure, but also for all the career opportunities they provide for their employees. 

IT 3rd Platform Team - 2015

2016 will be a year of change for EMC with the exciting merger with Dell, and I look forward to what this new adventure brings!