David Russell is vice president - External Affairs for Verizon Communications.  Russell is responsible for directing all external communications, charitable contributions, community involvement and economic development activities by Verizon in the central United States.

He began his corporate career in 1982.  Russell held various public affairs management positions before being named a director with Verizon’s national Telephone Operations group in 1988.  Russell later served as national media spokesman for telephone operations and in 1994 he became the regional vice president of public affairs for Texas and New Mexico.  He assumed his current duties in the year 2000 and has gradually had states added to his responsibilities.  He now serves the 11 states of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin.

Before joining Verizon, Russell was a daily newspaper editor and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the International Association of Business Communicators and the Texas Public Relations Association.  He is also a past-president of the Press Club of Dallas.

Russell is the Chairman of the North Texas Literacy Partnership and was named a 2009 “Champion of Literacy” by Literacy Instruction for Texas, the region’s largest literacy provider.  Also in 2009, he was appointed to serve on the Texas Literacy Council to help develop a statewide action plan for the improvement of literacy in Texas.  He is a former Chairman of the Texas Independent College Foundation and the North Texas Business Council for the Arts, the North Texas Commission, the Texas Education Reform Caucus, the Texas Business and Education Coalition and the Keller Chamber of Commerce.  He also serves on the board of the Texas Telephone Association Foundation, the Dallas County Community College District Foundation, the DFW Metroplex Salvation Army Advisory Board, and the Greater Irving/Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Dallas Citizens Council. 

Russell received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arkansas.  He will graduate in 2011 with an MBA degree at the University of Dallas and has been named an honorary alumnus of the University of North Texas.

August 2010