Now retired, but still actively involved in Institute of Internal Auditors, Russell’s last role was as Fire and Emergency’s Chief Internal Auditor. Prior to that he was Manager Internal Audit for Transpower and Victoria University’s Audit and Risk Manager.

Russell spent 9 years as the Director of Internal Audit and Investigations for the former Department of Labour, responsible for a team of ten auditors and investigators covering the Department’s operations in New Zealand and around the world.

He spent 10 years at KPMG. During that time, he spent 19 months at Fonterra on secondment, overseeing the validation of the merger benefits and auditing numerous merger projects. Before his move to KPMG, he was the Manager responsible for the Justice Department's Wellington based Internal Audit and Evaluation unit.  

He has over 45 years’ experience in the internal audit field, 37 of those have been at the Director/managerial level. Russell has personally undertaken numerous fraud and other special investigations in his time as an internal auditor and investigator. He has been a Certified Fraud Examiner for 30 years.

He was Chairperson of the Global Professional Issues Committee for the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA Inc - the international body) for 3years, is a former Director at Large, South Pacific Regional and District Director on the International Board and has been on numerous other International Committees.

He is a past President of the New Zealand Institute of Internal Auditors, is a Fellow of the NZ Institute (FIIA NZ) and was awarded, in 2001, the Richard Ratliff Award for his outstanding contribution to the promotion and practice of Internal Auditing, in 2010 he was awarded Internal Auditor of the Year and in 2016 Life Membership.