Biography:

After graduating from Indiana University, Russ began his career with a Fortune 500 company in Chicago, eventually doing acquisitions to grow one of their divisions. He became an independent broker in 1981 specializing in selling mid-market size businesses nationwide. In 1986, he relocated to Florida and eventually purchased the Clearwater, Florida VR Business Sales - Mergers and Acquisitions office. He sold this successful office in 2006 and remained with the firm until March, 2010. Russ has since joined Murphy Business and Financial Services, Clearwater, Florida as a senior business intermediary. In addition to facilitating the sale of privately held businesses and assisting buyers in finding quality business opportunities to purchase, Russ is assisting the Murphy franchise team in conducting training classes and seminars for new and experienced Murphy brokers along with providing support functions to Murphy franchisees in the United States and Canada.

In addition to brokering the sale of companies since 1981, Russ has experience in business appraisals, site selection/market evaluation, and business operations consulting.

Russ has earned the International Business Brokers Association (IBBA) "Certified Business Intermediary" designation and teaches education courses at the IBBA bi-annual conferences. In addition, Russ has been awarded the "Fellow of the IBBA" designation. This prestigious distinction comes only after achieving requirements of length of membership, being a CBI in good standing, making significant contributions to the IBBA and is a life-time award. While associated with the VR Business Brokers organization, Russ helped develop and teach courses to VR's national brokerage organization.

Russ has been a licensed Florida Real Estate Broker since 1988. He is a past officer in both the Florida Business Brokers Association (FBBA) and the Business Brokers of Florida Association (BBF).

He is a past Chairman of the Board of New Creation Experiences, Inc., a non-profit, international ministry organization. Russ and his wife Sharon are active members of both the Tampa and the South Pinellas 912 Patriot organizations.