TAC Leadership Spotlight Series: Maria Russell

Feb. 22 – (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – Tartan Leaders of Tomorrow had its second Tartan Athletics Club Board of Directors Leadership Spotlight Series of the semester on February 4 with Maria Russell, a 1996 alumna of the women’s soccer team. Russell graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social and decision sciences with a minor in industrial management from Carnegie Mellon University while also serving as a University Ambassador, hosting VIP guests for the President’s office.

Russell is an executive in the Advisory practice at Ernst & Young (EY), a global professional services consulting firm. At EY, Russell spends time leading teams to grow the business through sales best practices, and inspiring EY leaders to build and grow client relationships centered on trust.

The session on February 4 explored the three core principles of high-performance communication – content, delivery, and state. As the session started, Russell had music playing as students entered the zoom session to set the tone for the presentation and help attendees get in a mindset. Russell spoke about how storytelling is the most important point of providing good content.

“What I enjoyed most about Mrs. Russell's presentation was how universal and helpful the ideas presented are in society,” said William Rabon, a first-year player on the men’s soccer team. “We often fail to realize just how much we communicate in our daily lives, but communication is involved in everything we do: speaking with friends, professors, family, or even more formal things such as business meetings or presentations. Therefore, it is crucial that we are able to communicate properly and effectively. Mrs. Russell and Mr. Askins did a wonderful job of displaying this nature of communication as well as providing a helpful plan and tips to improve our own communication skills.”

“Maria and Scott’s presentation provided our students with practical guidance on high-performance communication, which will positively impact them as student-athletes, but more importantly, throughout their lives,” said Director of Athletics Josh Centor. “It was quite an impactful conversation, and we are truly grateful for the opportunity Maria afforded our Tartan community.”