Russ' Resume

Leading through Disruptions

• In the early 1990s, I recognized the potential impact the Internet could have on businesses and industries and helped position WilTel to be at the forefront of helping others through the change.
• In 1995, when WilTel was acquired and the new CEO didn't share that vision, I left that company and co-founded Digital Frontiers to help businesses implement websites and participate in the Internet revolution.
• In 1995 my co-founders and I sold Digital Frontiers to The Williams Companies, a Fortune 500 company. We continued to operate the business, but with the increased resources of our new owner, and aligning our plans with the new owner's objectives.
• After we sold Digital Frontiers to the Williams Companies, my team developed solutions to help the company's 40,000 business customers capture the power (e.g. websites, e-mail) and manage the danger (e.g. firewalls) of the Internet.
• An example of a company we helped was PennWell Publishing. Pennwell had been publishing The Oil and Gas Journal, the weekly standard for the energy industry for over a century. Although not yet apparent, we helped PennWell recognize the threat the Internet represented to print publications and partnered with them to build OGJonline, a closed industry portal featuring PennWell content and creating a vibrant online network of industry professionals.
• As vice president of strategic development for Williams Communications from 1998 - 2000, I led the strategic planning that identified acquisition and divestiture opportunities. I also participated in due diligence and integration of many acquisitions, including Critical Technologies, Comlink, SoftIRON, CycleSat, and Nortel's business solutions business.
• I also helped develop the pitch materials for the company's record setting IPO in 1999 and led the strategic planning process leading up to and following that funding event.
• As Vice President and Chief Strategist for TeleChoice (2000 - 2002), we were often asked by venture capitalists to lead strategy labs for their portfolio companies when they had just received funding, or when they would bring in a new CEO. These labs helped bring strategic clarity, but more importantly established the CEO's ownership of the strategy and unified the leadership team around the direction forward.
• I also  led strategy labs for post-merger companies helping them answer critical strategic questions including in which markets, products, and capabilities to invest.
• While at TeleChoice, the bursting of the dot-com bubble created an existential threat to many of our clients who relied directly or indirectly on venture capital funding. We helped many evaluate their strategic options enabling some to survive.
• At the beginning of 2004, Sprint completed a transformative reorganization. As part of that, groups from three separate divisions (with very different cultures and objectives) were merged together to form Sprint Business Solutions (SBS). The president of SBS brought me in at the end of 2003 to work with him in establishing the strategic framework for the new business. Read the case study.
• As director of strategic planning (2003 - 2008) and vice president of corporate strategy (2008 - 2014) for Sprint, I led  strategic planning that identified acquisition and divestiture opportunities. For example we acquired several pre-paid wireless providers increasing our pre-paid subscribers from 2.6 million in 2005 to 10.7 million in 2009.
• After joining Sprint in 2003, I identified mobile/wireless technology as the next technology revolution that would change the rules for competition across industries. I began meeting with Sprint customers, speaking at industry conferences, and writing articles to help companies prepare. The month that Apple announced the iPhone, I submitted the manuscript for my book The Power of Mobility: How Your Business Can Compete and Win in the Next Technology Revolution, which Wiley published later that year.
• Following the merger of Sprint and Nextel in 2005, I led strategic planning for the B2B division, facilitating strategy workshops to develop a strategic framework that helped identify strategic priorities, guide product portfolio rationalization, and inform critical organizational decisions.
• During the 2008 Financial Crisis, my team evaluated the impact the crisis would have on business and consumer purchasing and use of wireless services and developed plans to minimize downside risk and position Sprint for upside growth in prepaid services and broadband.
• In 2013, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank acquired 78% of Sprint. SoftBank Chairman Masa Son took a very active role in redefining the company's strategic objectives, culture, and strategic priorities, with a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions that previously hadn't been possible for standalone Sprint.
• During my tenure as a strategy executive at Sprint from 2003 - 2014, the company had five different CEOs. Each new leader rightly reevaluated the company's strategic priorities, established his ownership of the strategy, and rallied leadership, employees, customers, and investors around the new strategy.
• As Entrepreneur in Residence at Oklahoma Christian University, I coached business plan teams that won the statewide business plan competition in 2017 and 2018.
• In 2016, I transitioned from the role of CTO to CEO of Altimeter Software.  Since I had been involved in setting the company's initial strategy, this transition focused primarily on refocusing development and sales resources on the most promising opportunities.
• As CEO of VisuALS Technology Solutions, I raised the company's initial funding in 2017 and led the team in developing and implementing the strategic plans for use of those funds.
• In 2019, I transitioned from the role of CEO to Strategic Advisor of VisuALS Technology Solutions.  The new CEO was a co-founder of the business, so my role as advisor was to help him maintain the "love our neighbors" mission of the business while working through the daily challenges of operating a business.
• As an advisor, I have helped clients who have raised funding establish a strategic framework and make critical strategic decisions, as they build their teams, so that the team takes ownership of the direction forward. Read a case study.
• Also as an advisor, I have helped investor clients clarify investment/acquisition goals, evaluate potential targets, and identify the most important strategic decisions post-transaction.
• During the COVID crisis, I gave talks and published articles to help companies apply a "startup mindset" to rethinking how their businesses can operate in "the new normal."
• To further help companies develop post-COVID strategic plans, I developed a fictional case study of how Altimeter Software would navigate COVID. Read the case study.
• In December 2021 I began working with the Founder and Owner of Hope Builders in his planning to transition ownership of the business.  We focused on preserving the company's Christ-centered culture through the transition. We completed an F-reorganization of the company in August 2024. I continue to coach the company's President as he navigates daily decisions in alignment with the company's culture and strategy. Read the case study.
• I earned the Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) designation in 2024, recognizing my understanding of the decisions and processes involved in selling a business.