Russell Fugett

Entrepreneur · Advisor · Builder

Judgment for what matters. Building what comes next.

I work where business, technology, strategy, and execution meet. Today most of that work happens through Fugett Labs, where we help organizations get AI Ready: clear AI rules, approved tools, and a trained team in 60 days.

Explore Fugett Labs About Russell

Weighing a decision of your own? Talk with Russell

Founder, Fugett Labs Host, Judgment Call Podcast Commissioner, Maryland Economic Development Commission

What I'm Building Now

Fugett Labs

AI Strategy & Solutions Studio

The AI Ready Business Sprint

Your people already use AI. Give them the rules of the road. Most leaders can't see which AI tools their people use, or what goes into them.

In 60 days, your organization will have clear AI rules, approved tools, and a trained team, so you can lower your risk and put AI to work with confidence. When you work with Fugett Labs, you work with me.

Clear AI rules Approved tools A trained team Lower risk Real value from AI 60 days

Find.

We find every AI tool your people use and how they use it, and we hear from every team through a staff survey and short conversations.

Build.

Leadership decides which uses stay, change, or stop, weighed against your strategy and your risk. We write the AI use policy and the approved tools list.

Deploy.

We train your team and set up a simple review every one to three months, so the rules keep up with the tools.

Does your organization have AI rules yet? Find out where you stand on a free 20-minute call. We'll take the AI Ready Test together.

Book the 20-Minute Call → Visit Fugett Labs

The Podcast · How I Think

Russell Fugett: Judgment Call

Judgment at the intersection of AI, business, leadership, and life.

A daily podcast and live show. Every weekday I work through the decisions AI can't make for you, out loud and unscripted. Sometimes it's five minutes, sometimes an hour, sometimes with a guest who's building something worth hearing about.

If you want to know how I think before we ever work together, start here.

Live weekdays at 9:30 AM ET on YouTube and Facebook

Watch on YouTube Spotify Apple Podcasts Amazon Music iHeart

What I've Done

Experience across capital, strategy, technology, governance, and execution.

For more than 20 years I've worked in rooms where the decision mattered: capital on the table, interests pulling in different directions, public money and private money in the same deal, and somebody who had to execute once everyone went home. Fugett Labs is built on that experience.

20+

Years across nonprofit, government, and private ventures

$200M+

In deal exposure across negotiations, capital raises, and complex transactions

$35M

Term sheet secured for workforce training infrastructure in Maryland

5th Gen

Entrepreneur in a family of builders dating to 1888

Capital & transactions

Private equity in pro baseball

Co-founded a venture with former Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles GM Dan Duquette.

Strategic advisory

Family office advisor

Strategy, private capital, key relationships, and government relations for Vault Management and Vault Academy.

Capital strategy

A national endowment initiative

Founded it under fiscal sponsorship, built a 14-member national advisory board, and secured partnerships with an $11B outsourced CIO fund and a national venture philanthropy nonprofit.

Public service & governance

Economic development

Commissioner on the Maryland Economic Development Commission, appointed by Governor Wes Moore. Board trustee and Finance Committee Chair.

Technology

Technology transfer

Licensed machine learning software from the University of Maryland's Computer Science Department, and joined a U.S. delegation to South Africa on tech transfer, entrepreneurship, and job creation.

Execution

Built to deliver

Project Management Professional (PMP) with a master's in project management from George Washington University. Founded and ran GoodWord Digital, including a reseller partnership with Reputation.com.

Russell has been an invaluable resource and a trusted advisor to our family office and our nonprofit workforce training and youth education academy. Whether it was strategic advisory, banking and private capital, key relationships, or government relations, Russell has diligently helped us move forward. As he stewards his amazing multi-generational family legacy, he brings a perspective and wisdom that is unmatched.

Shurland Oliver, CEO, Vault Management & Vault Academy

J. M. Fugett, Road Cart, U.S. Patent No. 393,971, December 4, 1888

J. M. Fugett · Road Cart · Patent No. 393,971 · 1888

Where I Come From

Five generations of builders.

The tools changed. The instinct to build did not.

My great-great-grandfather Joseph Martin Fugett was born enslaved in Tennessee. He escaped during the Civil War, settled in Baldwinsville, New York, ran a blacksmith shop and a farm, and on December 4, 1888, received a U.S. patent for a road cart that took the jolt out of the ride.

1888. Joseph Martin Fugett, blacksmith and inventor, patents the road cart.
Joseph R. Fugett, his son and my namesake, studied at Cornell and became a longtime school principal in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
J. Howard Payne Sr., my maternal great-grandfather, was among the first 36 African American attorneys admitted to practice in Maryland, and built a career in law, real estate, and politics. His Baltimore home stands on the Pennsylvania Avenue Heritage Trail.
Reginald F. Lewis, my late uncle, became the first Black American to build a billion-dollar business empire.
Today. I'm the fifth generation, and Fugett Labs carries Joseph's name.

Find the problem. Build the thing that fixes it. Put your name on it. That's the family business, and it's why Fugett Labs is named for a patent.

See the 1888 patent and read Joseph's story →

Who I Am

Husband, father, and builder.

The work is one part of the story. These are the parts that shape how I do it.

Family

Husband to Selah and father to two daughters. They're the reason I build. Selah and I host the Progress Podcast, about flourishing in marriage and the marketplace.

Faith

Faith shapes how I carry all of it. My first book, Patience, Perseverance and Prayer, is a devotional for entrepreneurs.

Public service

Commissioner on the Maryland Economic Development Commission, board trustee, and Finance Committee Chair. Public and private work belong in the same conversation.

Community

Fifth-generation Baltimore-area entrepreneur with deep civic, philanthropic, and government relationships across Baltimore and Washington, DC.

Read the full story →

Work With Russell

Talk with Russell.

Sometimes you don't need another consultant. You need an experienced outside perspective on the decision in front of you.

One session

Bring Me the Decision

60 minutes · $500

Capital, a deal, a partner, a hard call at work or at home. We spend an hour on the options, the risks, and what you might be missing. You leave with a written summary and your next moves.

Book on EveryExpert →

If your question is about AI in your organization, start with a free 20-minute AI Ready call. And if your situation calls for a specialist firm, I'll tell you, and point you to the right one.

Or send a note.

Speaking, media, being a guest on the show, or something that doesn't fit a box. I read every message.