For nearly 15 years, Russel has been advising companies around the world on all aspects of marketing agency supplier management. He is a serial entrepreneur who was an owner of Select Resources, a founding partner of Ark Advisors, and the founder of External View. His intellect, broad experience and innate curiosity have made him one of the most highly regarded consultants in the field.
Russel started his career as a copywriter but discovered his true calling was in account management. His first job was with McCann Erickson but he spent the majority of his advertising career at DDB where he was a Senior Vice President, Group Account Director.
Russel’s consulting approach was profoundly shaped by his advertising experience where he worked on a series of accounts whose categories were in the throes of deregulation – airlines, healthcare, telecommunications, banking and energy. Working in uncharted territory and creating solutions for never-seen-before problems has proven to be a great foundation for helping companies cope with today’s volatile marketing environment.
While best known as a “search consultant” due to the 100+ searches he has conducted, Russel sees marketing agency supplier management as a complex system involving much more than just firing and hiring agencies. Although he has conducted searches accounting for billions of dollars in billings, Russel’s greatest achievements have been revitalizing client-agency relationships and reengineering marketing departments and agency rosters.
Russel’s clients have include Activision Blizzard, BMW, GlaxoSmithKline, Hallmark, HP, Intel, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Oracle, Porsche, Pringles, SAP, Charles Schwab, Sunkist, Wells Fargo Bank, Visa and many others. Russel has conducted over 20 complex global consulting assignments and searches in the last decade including several prominent global media reviews.
