Ted Russell serves as a nonprofit arts management consultant, strategist and facilitator, offering over thirty years of experience launching and scaling initiatives, building the capacity of organizations and helping artists and creative workers thrive. As Principal of Ted Russell Consulting, he currently focuses on arts advocacy, board training, planning, research, strategy and coaching. 

Previously, he served as Director of Arts Strategy & Ventures for the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, where he led the Foundation’s strategic direction for the arts, supporting diverse, visionary artists and collaborating with artists, partners and funders to advance systemic change and foster an equitable ecosystem. He also served as the Senior Program Officer for the Arts Program at the James Irvine Foundation from 2005 to 2016. He previously worked at several California nonprofit arts organizations and 20th-century dot coms in various management, marketing and fundraising roles. 

Ted’s commitment to the arts and culture field is unwavering. He holds a BA in mechanical engineering from Yale University and an MBA in arts management from UCLA’s Anderson School. In 2021, Ted was named a Nasher Haemisegger Fellow at SMU DataArts, the National Center for Arts Research, where he serves as an intellectual partner to SMU DataArts leadership on critical issues. He served as the board chair of Grantmakers in the Arts, a national association of over 350 private and public arts and culture funders, in 2020 and 2021. Best of all, Ted was named a Faces of Theatre Bay Area 40@40 Celebration Honoree.