Russ began his career in the garage door industry in 1992 as a service and installation technician. In 1997 he moved to North Carolina and began an 11 year career with Wayne Dalton Corporation. Russ worked as the Service Manager, Commercial Estimator and Commercial Sales Manager until he was relocated to Columbus in May 2006 with Hugger Dock Equipment. He returned to Wayne Dalton Corporation 1 year later as the National Commercial Sales Manager until his departure in November 2008.