Nominee: Kelly Russell

(FRANCO GUTIERREZ)

Director of Finance & Business Operations
Kahn Media, Inc.

After college Kelly Russell went to work in finance at Gold Mountain Media, an Encino-based media buying agency, where he wrote software from scratch to manage the company’s cash flow while juggling ad budgets to clients with pass through costs. He rose to a leadership role in finance at Gold Mountain for nearly a decade prior to moving to Activision/Blizzard as a team lead in finance before finally landing at Kahn Media, where he took over as only the second head of finance and operations in 14 years.

Russell joined the team during the pandemic and immediately dove into creating new streamlined processes, helping clean up AR. He helped improve cash flow and led the company’s finance side to its biggest revenue year and most profitable year in company history.