About Lightning Tools

Brett  studied his HND in Computer Programming at Loughborough College.  His first position in IT was with FEDEX where he developed in Visual Basic. He soon became a software trainer teaching both Lotus Domino Administration and Development before evolving into Visual Basic, C# & SQL training. In 2006 Nick Swan and Brett formed Lightning Tools. His role at Lightning Tools is product management, support and technical sales. He lives in Welford, Northamptonshire having spent two years living in the US. Hobbies include Fishing and Boating.

Richard is responsible for our sales and CRM. He has gained his knowledge in this area by working for a range of companies from new start ups to ftse 100 companies. He says ‘The most important aspect of any company is its passion for its customers and exceeding their expectations. Nick, Brett and the rest of the team have this at the heart of the business and I was only too pleased to join this bright, vibrant business.’ Richard lives in Gloucestershire with his family and Max the dog and three chickens. He is a highly qualified Cricket coach, a supporter of Gloucester Rugby Club and keen to bring his golf handicap down to two figures!.

Nick founded Lightning Tools with Brett in 2006 and now mainly looks after product development and can often be found answering support questions. He graduated from University after studying Software Engineering. Nick has been working with Microsoft development technologies for 10 years with the last 5 being focused on SharePoint.
Nick lives in Reading, UK with his fiancé Sophie and their cats Fluffy and Carragher. A keen golfer and football fan, he enjoys watching Tiger or Liverpool FC win.

Dmitry and Nick and have been working on BDC Meta Man and BDC Web Man since 2006. Dmitry started his development career with C++ and Java, working on mobile device applications. A dedicated student, Dmitry earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Moscow State University in 2004. Dmitry lives in Moscow with his wife, and loves playing football and watching football and biathlon

Since 2007, Michael has been working on the Lightning Conductor Web Part and LT Data Viewer Web Part for Lightning Tools. After graduating from university where he studied computing machinery, complexes, systems and networks faculty, Michael spent some time working as LAN administrator and VBA programmer in different companies. He lives in Khabarovsk (eastern Russia) with his girlfriend Marina and son Igor. Michael is a big fan of his family and beer.

Hrayr works on the BDC Web Parts and BDC Meta Man Web Edition. He has been working for 5 years beginning with C++ and math algorithms and then moved to Web technologies (-C#,Asp.Net,etc). Hrayr graduated from university with a Masters degree in Informatics and Applied Mathematics. He lives in Yerevan, Armenia. Hrayr loves football and is a great fan of FC Barcelona.

Phill's main project at the moment is BDC Meta Man Web Edition. Having worked in various roles within 1st, 2nd and 3rd Line Support for 5 years, Phill transitioned to development two years ago and has been developing for SharePoint 2007 ever since. He lives in Bristol, UK with his girlfriend Pip. He enjoys going out to see music and is an aspiring artist! Phill plans on beating Nick at golf one day!

Ashot is the lead developer for the Lightning Storm Forums for SharePoint. He graduated from Yerevan State Engineering University in 1993 and continued his education at American University of Armenia and earned his Master’s Degree in 1998. He started programming in 1997 when the primary language was Java, but for the last two years has been enjoying working with SharePoint and Lightning Tools. Ashot is a Hard Rock/Metal music fan and enjoys listening to Swedish Metal Bands.

Karen has been working as QA engineer for 3 years. He graduated from university with a Bachelors degree in Physics of Semiconductors and with a Master’s degree in Informatics and Applied Mathematics. He lives in Yerevan, and spends his time playing football and Russian billiards. He is also a fan of FC Barcelona and Liverpool.

Zorayr is originally from Yerevan, Armenia and now living there. He graduated from university with a Masters degree in Informatics and Applied Mathematics.
Zorayr has been greatly interested in computer programming since he was a kid, especially in making computer games. He has been working as a WinForm developer for about 3 years and after that 2 years as a SharePoint developer.
He enjoys spending weekends visiting the countryside and also likes music, art and photography.