RUSS COTTON
Experienced senior leader in capital markets technology, recognized and sought after for a proven track record of ensuring operational stability for the world's most valuable systems.
PROFILE
As a guardian of operational stability, with an unrelenting focus on system assurance, I have been positioned and entrusted to make critical business decisions during high-stakes situations. I excel at problem solving and thrive on understanding root cause and contributing factors--but I've made a career around the belief that building sustainable solutions to technology problem-solving requires both a pragmatic approach and emphasis of accountability across the organization.
EXPERIENCE
Citadel		Austin, TX (Hybrid)
Aug 2021 - Oct 2023	Head of Operations Transformed an underperforming 24x7x365 operations function into a world-class team with a strong Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) mindset. Through a comprehensive assessment of workflows, teams, and the environment, I successfully upgraded the existing function to a follow-the-sun model with integrated SRE capabilities. The prioritization of automation reduced manual effort by 70%, resulting in a rebuilt team that served as a central point of contact for all production issues and crisis management, maintaining alignment/integration to functional teams across the organization. Implemented frameworks to accelerate the development of automation and self-service functions/tools, and integrated an extensible, in-house monitoring solution with automated and interactive response capabilities. These initiatives led to a monthly reduction of 500 man hours for the global operations team and reduced waiting hours by over 1,200 for software engineering teams, unblocking/unlocking them, improving project timelines and delivery. Led change management, incident management, automation, and standards to drive continuous improvement, resulting in a reduction of business impacting incidents by over 50%. Conducted audits to ensure consistent design and coordinated high-availability and disaster recovery procedures. Identified critical deficiencies in disaster recovery readiness and proactively remediated them. Championed the team's new mandate to senior leadership, delivering internal presentations and implementing programs to onboard internal stakeholders. Established career paths, training opportunities, and increased visibility for the team to foster growth and engagement.
Trading Technologies		Chicago, IL (Hybrid)
Nov 2019 - Aug 2021	Chief Operating Officer Oversaw the technical operations of the company, leading a team of 100+ staff across various functions including client support, SRE, network engineering, systems engineering, data center engineering, information technology, and information security. Successfully reduced non-comp operating expenses by approximately $2.5M through strategic initiatives such as re-negotiating existing contracts, optimizing cloud-based resources, and replacing enterprise logging solutions. Implemented and managed robust change, incident, and problem management programs, fostering a culture of accountability throughout the organization. This resulted in a reduction of client-impacting outages by more than 50%. Utilized extensive experience to ensure cost-effective strategies were implemented for new business ventures and contracts.
ICE/NYSE		Atlanta, GA
Mar 2007 - Oct  2019	Vice President of Operations (and various preceding roles) Led the growth and management of a global team, expanding from 10 to approximately 200 staff, to support the 24/7/365 operations of a multi-billion dollar company. Oversaw all strategic and daily technical operations, including client support, systems maintenance, incident management, and regulatory compliance. Accountable for the daily technical operations and availability of all ICE platforms, including equities, options, and derivatives trading platforms, clearing houses, securities information processors, market data platforms, benchmark administration, mortgage technology platform, and websites. Managed complex regulator relationships and audits, successfully reducing initial audit findings, and ensuring an abbreviated onsite inspection. Ensured operational regulatory compliance and communications for regulated businesses operating under the jurisdictions of SEC, CFTC, EMSA, FCA, BOE, MAS.  Successfully integrated acquired companies, such as NYBOT, NYSE Euronext, and Interactive Data Corporation (IDC), into ICE's operational standards, policies, and procedures.
Morgan Stanley		New York, NY
Oct 2005 - Mar 2007	Integration Engineer Streamlined the integration and maintenance of 3rd party applications with proprietary systems, encompassing end-to-end responsibilities from design and implementation to monitoring and troubleshooting.
ICE/NYSE		Atlanta, GA
May 2002 -Oct  2005	Network Operations/Senior Technician Implemented and maintained a real-time, end-to-end application and network performance management system for business-critical/production environments.
CQG	Denver, CO
Jan  2000 - May 2002	Network Planning Analyst / Systems Administrator Designed and planned systems design for new architecture which I used to launch the company’s integrated trade routing solution.
MILITARY BACKGROUND
United States Marine Corps			Cherry Point, NC/Fort Worth, TX
Nov 1996 - May 2005	Avionics Technician