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. His work as the Principal of Ted Russell Consulting LLC currently focuses on arts advocacy, research, strategic planning 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 2005-2016 and previously worked at several California nonprofit arts organizations and 20th century dot coms in various management, marketing and fundraising roles.

Ted holds a BA in mechanical engineering from Yale University and an M.B.A. in arts management from UCLA’s Anderson School. From 2021 to 2024, Ted was a Nasher Haemisegger Fellow at SMU DataArts, the National Center for Arts Research where he served as an intellectual partner to SMU DataArts leadership on the critical issues prevalent in the arts and culture field. 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.