Team · Profile
Loretta O'Donnell
Senior Technology Infrastructure leader. Fifteen years in IT management and leadership across regulated financial services. Former Citi Head of Technology Infrastructure Europe & UK and EMEA End User Services Head, with experience spanning 28 countries, a €65M annual budget, and 28,000 users.
Loretta O'Donnell
Senior Technology Infrastructure Leader | Former Citi EMEA & UK
Dublin, Ireland
Loretta is a senior leader with extensive experience in the IT industry, the last fifteen years primarily in management and leadership roles. A member of Citi's EMEA Infrastructure senior leadership team and the global End User Services senior leadership team, she contributed to critical decisions affecting tens of thousands of users across more than fifty countries. She has built and led high-performing teams, mentoring and fostering a culture of inclusion, accountability, and innovation, and has a strong record in regulatory, compliance, and audit outcomes.
Loretta's career spans more than two decades in IT infrastructure, beginning with server and exchange administration roles in Australia at Cisco Systems, Nestle, and EDS before returning to Ireland to take on management positions at Bisys Hedge Fund Services and IT Alliance. She joined Citi in 2009 as Infrastructure Head for the Ireland site, with responsibility for day-to-day infrastructure across network, helpdesk, and server administration.
Over fifteen years at Citi her remit expanded steadily — to Site Head Ireland in 2016, EMEA & UK Technology Infrastructure Head from 2016 to 2024, and EMEA End User Services Head from 2020 to 2024. At the peak of her tenure she was accountable for infrastructure across twenty-eight countries, more than 28,000 internal users, 35,000 devices, 5,000 trade floor desks, and 40+ tech rooms — with a €65M annual budget delivering around 10% year-on-year savings through efficiency, automation, and strategic vendor partnerships. Across that period she dealt with or supported regulatory exams from every major European and US authority — CBI, ECB, BaFin, CSSF, FRA, PRA, BoE, FCA, OCC, and the US Federal Reserve — and served as a PCF-49 Delegate.
Her global work covered the End User Services transformation programme — One Device, connect anywhere at any time — taking 52,000 users across 51 countries from legacy estate to a coherent global service model spanning Service Desk, Telephony, DAS, mobile, trade floor support, O365 deployment, automation, AI pilots, and Cloud solutions for application technology. She influenced C-suite leadership teams across the region as a member of the global EUS senior leadership team, with critical decision-making enabling global IT roadmap and strategy delivery.
Beyond Citi, Loretta has attracted global teams (Cloud, Engineering, Risk Management) to locate and grow in Dublin, sponsored graduate programmes, and was a founding member of Citi Women in Technology Ireland. She has served as a Board Member of Men's Aid Ireland. After a deliberate career break in 2024 she joined GenAI Skills Academy to apply her enterprise IT leadership experience to the question of how organisations actually deploy AI inside regulated, multi-jurisdiction environments.
Qualifications
Software Engineering
Carlow Regional Technical College
Honours degree in software engineering.
National Diploma & Certificate, Software Engineering
Letterkenny Regional Technical College
Corporate Governance
Corporate Governance Institute
Professional development
- ITIL Service Management Foundation Certificate
- Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE)
- Project management training
- Leadership Development
- Six Sigma
- Lean development training
Areas of expertise
- Strategic IT leadership and digital transformation
- Regulatory, audit, risk, and cybersecurity management
- Budget and vendor management (€65M annual P&L)
- C-suite engagement and executive influence
- Building and leading high-performing technical teams
- Crisis management (COVID, war, natural disasters, building incidents)
- Outsourcing, in-sourcing, and strategic vendor partnerships
- Trade floor and end user services for regulated financial services
Scope & impact
Leadership Scope
Member of EMEA Infrastructure senior leadership team and global End User Services senior leadership team. Accountable for technology infrastructure across 28 countries, 28,000 users, 35,000 devices, 5,000 trade floor desks, and 40+ tech rooms.
Regulatory & Compliance
Delivered against numerous regulatory exams across CBI, ECB, BaFin, CSSF, FRA, PRA, BoE, FCA, OCC, and US Federal Reserve. PCF-49 delegate.
Transformation & Delivery
Multi-year large-scale site relocations, refurbishments, and new builds — including Citi Tower London, Dublin, German HQ, Milan, and Paris. Global End User Services transformation (One Device, connect anywhere at any time) across Service Desk, Telephony, DAS, mobile, trade floor, O365, automation, AI pilots, and Cloud.
People & Culture
Grew Dublin team from 20 to over 100 resources. Founding member of Citi Women in Technology Ireland. Mentored and developed teams across the EMEA region.
Professional experience
Career Break — Personal Goals & Family
2024 – Sept 2025Time out to recharge, work on personal goals, renovate home, and support family members. Now available for the next role.
Director — Citi Technology Infrastructure Head, Europe & UK (incl. RUK)
2016 – 2024Responsible for all technology infrastructure across 28 countries, 28,000 users, 200+ staff, 35,000 devices, 5,000 trade floor desks, and 40+ tech rooms. Led teams through multiple crisis situations (COVID, war, natural disasters, building fires) while minimising client impact and collaborating with executive management. Delivered strong audit and regulatory outcomes across the region (CBI, ECB, BaFin, CSSF, FRA, PRA, BoE, FCA, OCC, Fed). PCF-49 Delegate. Owned €65M annual budget, delivering ~10% year-on-year savings through efficiency, automation, and strategic vendor partnerships. Additional RUK (Russia, Ukraine & Kazakhstan) responsibility 2018–2021.
Director — EMEA End User Services Head
2020 – 2024Responsible for provision, support, and maintenance of all end user services for 52,000+ internal customers across EMEA — 51 countries, 100+ locations, 150+ FTE, and 100+ contract staff. As EMEA Head, also a member of the global EUS senior leadership team. Delivered the regional IT strategy for 52K end users — One Device, connect anywhere at any time — across Service Desk, Telephony, DAS, mobile, trade floor, O365, automation, AI pilots, and Cloud. Influenced C-suite leadership teams across the region to deliver the global End User Services transformation.
Site Head — Ireland (Citi Technology Infrastructure)
2009 – 2024Started as Infrastructure Head for the local Ireland site, managing day-to-day infrastructure including network, helpdesk, and server administration. Role expanded in 2016 to overall Site Head for all infrastructure teams located in Ireland supporting global teams across the bank. Attracted global teams (Cloud, Engineering, Risk Management) to locate and grow in Dublin. Sponsored graduate programmes; mentored, developed, retained, and grew teams (from 20 to over 100 resources). Represented Citi externally on local Dublin site activities. PCF-49 Delegate.
Earlier roles
PriorIT Manager — Bisys Hedge Fund Services Ireland. Server Administrator — Cisco Systems Australia. Exchange Administrator — Nestle Australia. Server Administrator — EDS Australia. Various network and server administrator roles at customer sites, nationally and internationally — IT Alliance / Digital Networking Services Ireland. Board Member — Men's Aid Ireland.