People & ideas at Deutsche Börse
Release date: 27 Mar 2025
What do sailing on a boat and IT have in common? At first glance, not much. But when you listen to Jason Jernigan's sailing stories, it quickly becomes clear that navigation, planning, and adaptability are essential both on the open sea and in the depths of IT at the EEX Group.
Jason started his career at Nodal Exchange as one of the first ten employees. He spent twelve years in his position as Director of Technology Operations, where he was responsible for various IT operations from the beginning. He describes how he was greatly appreciated for his work and how much he still enjoys his job today.
While Jason was professionally where he wanted to be, a childhood dream was simmering inside him, one that would take him to many other places – more on that later.
In 1980, Jason's father gifted him a book by Tania Aebi about sailing. It was titled "Maiden Voyage" and told the story of the author herself, who, at the age of 18, crossed the world's oceans without any real sailing experience. As fate would have it, Jason met the author who ignited his wanderlust in person in Bermuda in 2023.
After graduating from college, Jason sailed along the East Coast of the USA with his father for three years. He knew he had to put his sailing ambitions on hold for a while so the adventure was followed by a decade of professional development. Today, he smiles and says, "I was lucky enough to experience a few years of retirement before my career."
In 2018, Jason joined a sailing club to prepare for his planned world trip after his career. During a trip, he listened to other retired members talk about their unfulfilled sailing dreams. At that moment, Jason decided to start his world trip immediately.
His plans were met with understanding at Nodal Exchange, and he is very grateful that this journey was made possible for him. Jason emphasizes that he did not want to put the team in a difficult position, so he invested a year in training his successor.
Jason left the USA in November 2019 and sailed for four days to the Bahamas, where he spent a month and a half exploring the beautiful, light blue waters and reefs of the Eleuthera and Exuma Islands.
In early January, he left the Bahamas for Colombia, but the weather forced him to divert to Ile a Vache, Haiti, and then to Kingston, Jamaica. Along the way, Jason encountered a storm that nearly capsized his boat "Lora." Below deck, Jason was thrown against the ceiling, and everything in the boat was in complete disarray. On deck, the damage was even worse: a solar panel was bent, the sun deck was torn, and the mast was cracked. Jason and his boat "Lora" reached Kingston about 30 hours after the storm and he spent three weeks making repairs.
In this moment, when he could hardly have been further from his everyday professional life, Jason learned an important lesson that would be useful to him upon his return to Nodal: "I learned that I am more capable than I ever thought. If I want to achieve something, the only requirement is that I first decide what I want to do and then start working towards that goal. The same applies to my work: we are often asked to complete difficult tasks or do things we are not yet familiar with. By taking it step by step and continuously working towards the goal, we can accomplish difficult tasks with ease and even achieve the nearly impossible."
In February 2020, Jason sailed to Panama and passed through the Panama Canal in March. On March 14, 2020, he set course for the Marquesas, French Polynesia, and crossed the South Pacific in 34 days. During the crossing, he learned about the impact of the Covid-pandemic through satellite messages. His next destinations were the Fiji Islands, Lombok, Indonesia, where he spent 27 days in quarantine on his boat before heading to one of his favorite destinations – South Africa. He reports of dreamlike reserves and an impressive wildlife.
The longest stretch Jason sailed in one go was from St. Helena in the South Atlantic to the US Virgin Islands. A total of 4,200 nautical miles in 45 days, before returning home in June 2023 and starting his new role as Senior Engineer at Nodal in July 2023.
When asked if he ever felt lonely on a trip, Jason replied, "I can't remember ever feeling lonely, not even once. On the contrary, I often didn't want to return home because of the beautiful experiences." Jason is already looking forward to his next adventure and plans to visit the South Sea islands he missed due to the Covid-pandemic. However, he plans to wait until his final retirement for this trip, at least that's his statement as of today.
