Superintendent's Biography

George Russell is the 25th superintendent of Eugene School District 4J in Eugene, Oregon.

Before becoming superintendent in 1998, he served as the executive director of human resources for the school district. Mr. Russell previously worked with school districts in San Diego and Seattle as assistant superintendent and as human resources director for the Oklahoma City Public Schools. He also worked for Lane County government as director of human resource and management services, county treasurer, and county clerk.

His educational background includes an undergraduate degree in Social Psychology from Howard University in Washington, DC; a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from Golden Gate University in San Francisco; and additional graduate work in education policy and administration from the University of Oregon. From 1998 to 2002, Mr. Russell was a participant in the Danforth Foundation’s Forum for the American School Superintendent. As a Wallace Foundation LEAD District superintendent, he completed the Superintendent Leadership Program (SLP) at Harvard University, a collaborative project between the Kennedy School of Government and the Graduate School of Education. He has also served as a mentor superintendent for the Harvard University Graduate School of Education’s Urban Superintendents Program and serves on the advisory board for that program. He served on the Diversity Strategic Plan Steering Committee for the College of Education at the University of Oregon, and is on the advisory board for the Center for Leadership and Ethics at Northwest Christian College. He is currently participating in the Executive Educator Leadership Program (ExEL) at Harvard University, a partnership effort of the schools of Business, Government and Education.

Mr. Russell was appointed by the Governor to the state’s Quality Education Commission in 1999, and to the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) Board in 2000. He serves on a number of community boards, including United Way of Lane County, Eugene/Springfield NAACP, Lane Shelter Care, Relief Nursery, Success by Six Leadership Team, Junior Achievement of Western Oregon and Chamber of Commerce, and the E3 Literacy Partnership Leadership Board, among others. Mr. Russell is involved in many professional organizations, including the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) – National Governing Board, National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE) – Superintendents Council, Confederation of Oregon School Administrators (COSA), and Oregon Association of School Executives (OASE), for which he served as president 2006-07. He and several other superintendents from across the country helped create the National Superintendents Roundtable in 2005 and he is a member of the Mountain West Superintendents Roundtable. He has received numerous community and professional awards, and was recognized as Oregon Superintendent of the Year for 2005.