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A tireless opportunity democratizer, youth advocate, and environmental defender with a particular passion for the transformational power of sport, Russ Pillar has spent his career building and leading teams that have created lasting value at a host of the world's best-known and well-loved consumer brands.
Russ currently serves as Senior Advisor to Mubadala Investment Company, the sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi), where he initiates, evaluates, and manages direct investment opportunities globally and has responsibility for the firm’s sports, media, and entertainment initiatives. His prior experience encompasses global senior executive roles at the Virgin Entertainment Group, the CBS Internet Group, the Viacom Digital Media Group, Prodigy Internet, the Los Angeles Marathon, and Reigning Champs, among others; his Board of Director's service spans more than three dozen public and private for-profit and non-profit sports, media, and entertainment companies including AVP Pro Beach Volleyball, Silver King Communications/IAC, Zumba Fitness, SportsLine, SX Global/World Supercross Championship, and TiVo, among many others; his mission-driven non-profit Board of Directors service includes The Nature Conservancy (Idaho), the Executive Committee of the Brown University Sports Foundation, Running USA (where he founded and chaired the National Youth Running Initiative), Heal the Bay, the Ocean Institute, and the Ronald McDonald House Children's Charities (Florida). He was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Young Presidents’ Organization; he is a Henry Crown Fellow at The Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Russ graduated Phi Beta Kappa, cum laude from Brown University with an A.B. in East Asian Studies, having studied for a year as an international exchange student at Keio University in Tokyo. While at Brown, he played on the University’s rugby team, coached its women’s rugby team, and was a National Finalist in the Rhodes Scholarship Competition. The Brown Alumni Monthly named him one of the 100 alumni who had the greatest impact on the 20th century.
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