Russ graduated from the University of the Pacific (2009) with a B.S. Mechanical Engineering.  After graduating he served in the US Navy for 5 years as a Nuclear Submarine Officer where he qualified as an Nuclear Navy Engineer.  Having lived in Charleston, SC, Groton, CT, Ballston Spa, NY, and Bremerton, WA during his tour in the Navy, Russ moved back to California.  Since then he has spent 10 years as a Real Time Control Room Operator for the California ISO as an Interchange Scheduler, Transmission Dispatcher, Lead Transmission Dispatcher, Generation Dispatcher and his current role as a Lead Generation Dispatcher.