Russell graduated in Finance in 2007 before moving into an IT management consulting career. He developed business strategy, led change management initiatives, and managed technology products in the federal and state sectors. In 2016, he began his journey into data science using Python to expand his analytical toolkit, exposing him to conda and the extraordinary ecosystem of open-source tools in PyData. In 2017, Russell went to work for Continuum Analytics (Anaconda), growing his interest in open source and connecting with Travis. Since then, Russell has worked with Travis’ ventures, including Quansight and OpenTeams, managing open source software, machine learning / AI, and technology evaluation projects. In early 2020, he helped co-found FairOSS and established the Groundwater Program, a program to sustain open source by making it investable.