David Russell wants to bring business, leadership experience to county board
David Russell, whose dad was in the military, saw a lot of the world growing up, then spent 10 years in the Air Force himself before settling in Nebraska and becoming a businessman.
He met his wife, Denette, here, bought an acreage just southeast of Lincoln and raised two girls, who are now grown, and a son, who is a sophomore at Pius X High School. Now, he said, he wants to bring his experience to the Lancaster County Board.
"I figured now was a good time for me to bring my business experience and leadership experience to the county," he said. "I feel I can really make an impact and a difference on the County Board to help people out there."
Russell, 49, a Republican, is running against Democrat Chelsea Johnson for the District 4 seat, which includes the eastern part of Lincoln and Lancaster County. Incumbent Roma Amundson is not running for reelection.
Russell's father, an immigrant from Australia, served more than two decades in the Air Force. The family lived in the United States and several countries overseas and Russell graduated from high school in England.
After high school, his parents remained in England but he moved to the United States, initially staying with his grandparents in West Virginia, and working as a welder for a short time.
Then, following in his dad's and grandfather's footsteps, he joined the Air Force, became a noncommissioned officer and served for 10 years, about five of them in Iraq.
He was in Bellevue when he was discharged and attended Creighton University and graduated from Bellevue University with a degree in management information systems.
He ran his own IT company for a short time, until he began working for private military contractors that worked with the State Department and Department of Defense and he spent time in the Middle East on protection details for VIPs and in communications, he said.
He worked as a global IT director for a manufacturing company and now is director of digital solutions for the Nebraska Municipal Power Pool.
He said both his military and business experience have allowed him to work with diverse groups of people.
"You know, growing up that way, . . you learn not to live in an echo chamber and there's people from all walks of life you have to work with and collaborate with," he said. "It just goes to show you that we're all very similar and we can work together to get the mission done."
As a county commissioner, one of his top priorities would be to lower property taxes by reducing spending, he said.
He said he wants to find ways to support the county engineer and sheriff's office and work with the Legislature to protect the county from unfunded mandates.
"There's really nobody on the County Board that has the expertise and the business knowledge that I have," he said, and decisions need to be data-driven.
"We need to evaluate the effectiveness and the efficiency of a lot of the services that we're doing to make sure that things that we are putting money toward are valid."
Russell said he doesn't care about political labels, he just saw people struggling, he said, and wanted to step up.
Still, his endorsements include the conservative-leaning Lincoln Independent Business Association, the Lancaster County Republican Party, and a number of Republican officials, including Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly, Attorney General Mike Hilgers, State Auditor Mike Foley, state senators, and county officials including the sheriff and county attorney.
His biggest donors include Tom Peed ($5,000) and Sandhills Global ($5,000), which is owned by the Peed family, who have become large Republican donors.
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