Ryan Russell named new executive director

The new Executive Director at the Stafford County Economic Development (EcoDevo) office is a familiar face around town.

Ryan Russell started this past week.

His parents are Wade and Leanne Russell of Hudson. His father is the minister at Trinity Community Church in Hudson.  His mother recently founded Grace Walk Inc. a non-profit helping recovering addicts get back on their feet.

“I like this area,” Russell said. “I grew up here. I know a lot of people in the county still, even though I’ve been gone for a long time.”

Russell moved away from Stafford County when he was 16. He has spent the past 12 years living overseas – specifically in Myanmar, for 10 years; and Thailand, for two.

Russell will replace Kathleen Norman as the Stafford County Economic Development Executive Director when she officially leaves in July to accept a position in Albania with Peace Corps.

Norman joined EcoDevo as the Assistant Director in 2020 and has served as Executive Director since January 2022.

Russell’s career background has prepared him for his new position in Stafford County.

He started as a missionary in Myanmar but his work evolved into education, job training and helping obtain grants and loans for small businesses.

“I saw early on the need for job creation,” he said. “I was focused on youth. I was training youth pastors how to work with youth . . .  And I saw early on that youth had a very difficult time because of education . . . There was really no education. It was difficult for people to get jobs because there was no skill development.”

Russell, while in Myanmar, helped develop small loan programs and entrepreneurship education for young people.

“We helped with over 100 loans in four years and had over 200 people go through our training program—everything from offering starts ups in noddle shops and chicken farms,” he said.

He left Myanmar because of the political unrest—a government coup.

That’s when he went to Thailand to start his own tourism business.

But the Covid-19 pandemic stuck around longer than expected.

“All the airports were closed – bureaucratically, it was complicated to enter and exit the country,” Russell said. “Economically, it wasn’t viable for me to stay. I tried to get a tourism license connecting to the tour company. It took me eight months to get the license . . . I just got to the point where I was like, I’m using up all my savings and I’m going to move back to Kansas.”

He moved last fall.

And now, he has started work as the new Executive Director at EcoDevo.

“I’m able to be near my parents and I have a real interest in economic development and entrepreneurship, as well as supporting businesses and consulting,” he said.

His experience overseas, he says, helped prepare him for his new position.

“What I bring to the table is that I am open minded,” Russell said. “I can understand things very quickly in terms of businesses and how businesses connect to each other. I can help business owners understand how they can make more money and how others can come into a county that would benefit the businesses already here.

“Plus, I have written a number of grants in the past that have been successful. I’m very entrepreneurial, coming up with ideas and then helping other people succeed.”