When the decision in front of you is too important to get wrong and too complex to hand off, you need someone who has operated across the table in high-stakes environments, not just studied them.
"I come from a family that figured out how to build, when the world was designed to stop them."
My great-great-grandfather Joseph Martin Fugett was born enslaved, escaped during the Civil War, settled in upstate New York, owned a blacksmith shop, and held a U.S. patent by 1888. My late uncle Reginald F. Lewis became the first Black American to build a billion-dollar business empire. I am the fifth generation.
That lineage does not make me feel entitled. It makes me feel responsible, to build at the level the family name demands, and to help others do the same.
Over 20 years I have operated at the intersection of strategy, governance, and execution across nonprofit, government, private sector and venture, workforce development, and public-private environments. I launched a national endowment from concept to governance, co-founded a private equity venture in professional baseball with former Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles GM Dan Duquette, and secured a $35M term sheet for workforce training infrastructure in Maryland.
I currently serve as a board trustee and Finance Committee Chair overseeing fiduciary governance of a multi-million dollar institutional budget. I am based in Maryland with deep civic, philanthropic, and government relationships across Baltimore and Washington, DC.
I am also building at the frontier. I have been accepted into a rigorous program at Harvard focused on AI strategy and agentic AI, and I am actively deploying AI tools and systems for operators who need infrastructure, not just ideas. I have a book in development that I expect to be among the most important work I produce.
My family recently partnered with Catholic Charities to open an intergenerational center in West Baltimore housing two workforce training programs. That work reflects the values I bring to everything else.
Structured decision support for executives, operators, and project leaders navigating high-stakes moments. Two engagement paths, for those who need deep embedded support, and those who need consistent access to experienced judgment.
Deep embedded advisory support for leaders navigating mergers, acquisitions, capital raises, leadership transitions, or high-stakes partnerships. Structured thinking, sound judgment, and active participation in your decision-making process from someone who has operated in those environments firsthand.
Ongoing access to experienced judgment when you need it, without the commitment of a full engagement. Send questions, decisions, and strategic challenges via Voxer. Responses within 24 to 48 hours. For emerging leaders, project managers, and operators navigating complex projects and professional growth who need a trusted thinking partner in their corner.
Tools built from 20 years operating at the intersection of strategy, governance, and execution, distilled for leaders who need to think and move.
A structured framework for navigating the decisions that define project outcomes before they become crises. Built for PMPs, project managers, and program leads who need to make consequential calls with confidence.
For: PMP holders, project managers, program directors
A Devotional for Entrepreneurs
The entrepreneurial journey is grueling. The sacrifice and suffering is transformative, if you have the courage to walk with God and maintain your focus. This devotional reflects the hard-won lessons from Russell's journey: that a deeper relationship with faith is what makes ventures, and lives, truly bear lasting fruit.
Buy on Amazon →Deploying AI Tools and Applications for dental practices, service businesses, and operators who need infrastructure, not just ideas. Named for a blacksmith who held a U.S. patent in 1888. Built to carry that standard forward.
Short, pointed notes on the decisions that define outcomes. Written for executives, operators, and project leaders who want to think more clearly and move with more confidence.
Notes on judgment, decision-making, and operating with clarity in the age of AI. Subscribe to get them when they land.
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