Dr. Russell is a licensed Industrial and Organizational Psychologist and has over 25 years of experience consulting with both private and public sector organizations. Her expertise is primarily in the areas of leadership and management development, negotiation tactics, executive coaching, training, career development, work teams, and change management. Some of her clients have included: Lockheed Martin, Marriott, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, National Institute of Health, Frito-Lay, Quaker Oats, M&M Mars, ALCOA, Entergy, Yodlee, Black & Decker, Boeing Corporation, Hughes Network Systems, McCormick, Nextel, Tennessee Valley Authority, State of Tennessee, Bell-South, L.M. Berry & Company, Bryce Corporation, among others.

Dr. Russell developed the Executive Coaching Program for the EMBA program at The University of Maryland and at The University of Tennessee. As the Director of both Coaching programs, she has provided executive coaching for hundreds of executives over the past decades as well as selected and trained numerous executive coaches.

She was named vice dean in 2012 and is a Ralph J. Tyser Distinguished Teaching Fellow and a Senior Executive Education Fellow in the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Since joining the UM faculty, she has consistently been honored for being one of the outstanding (Top 15%) Teachers. She is also the only Smith School faculty that has been selected three times for the Allen J. Krowe Award for Teaching Excellence given for Outstanding Teaching among tenured, tenure-track, and teaching professors.

Prior to joining UM, she was a tenured full Professor in the College of Business Administration at The University of Tennessee. At UT, she received numerous teaching and research awards from students and faculty for her work with Executive MBAs, MBAs, doctoral students, and undergraduates. Some of them include: The University of Tennessee National Alumni Association Outstanding Teaching Award, the College of Business Administration’s John B. Ross Award for Outstanding Teaching among senior, tenured professors, the Tennessee Organization of MBAs Outstanding Teaching Award, the UT Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Team Development and Team Teaching of the Integrated MBA Curriculum, and the College of Business Administration’s William B. Stokely Research/Teaching Scholar Award, among others.

Dr. Russell has successfully taught in Executive Development programs, EMBA, MBA, PhD, and undergraduate programs. She has published over 50 articles, books, or book chapters and has presented her research at national and regional conferences. She served as the Associate Editor for the Journal of Vocational Behavior, and on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Resource Management Review, and Performance Improvement Quarterly. She is an active member of the Academy of Management, American Psychological Association, American Society for Training and Development, Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology, and the Society for Human Resource Management. She received her PhD and M.A. degrees in Industrial & Organizational Psychology from The University of Akron, Ohio and her B.A. degree in Psychology/Business from Loyola College in Maryland.