Adrian Russell
36, Director of Diversity of Suppliers
Shiel Sexton Co.
Indianapolis
While Adrian Russell has participated in leading projects in Indianapolis that include Lucas Oil Stadium, Gainbridge Fieldhouse and Sidney Hospital and Lois Eskenazi, one that stands out for him is closer to his home: a new Historical Pool Frederick Douglass Park located in the city district.
“It is a park that serves as an important treasure within the black local community, and at one point it was the only park that African Americans could go to amenities as a pool,” says Russell.
Russell is proud to return to the neighborhoods in which he grew up.
“To be able to play so many people from all over the city and this community, those neighborhoods, in particular children and young people, is something I am proud of, especially knowing that I swam in the small pool,” he says.
In his role in Shiel Sexton, Russell has directed the company in tutoring and is an authority in the promulgation of diversity strategies. In doing so, it has helped to raise several diverse companies that would otherwise have had few opportunities to succeed in an industry and a market that, historically, have struggled to embrace diversity.
Commenting on the current National Dei Farme, Russell says “there will always be a necessary business case [it]. “He emphasizes that” regardless of what the title “needs that DEI’s answers have been” always in America. “
Russell acknowledges that the current national environment presents challenges, but he is determined to continue his work. “You have to respect and honor the mandates,” he says, “but work does not stop. The work does not stop.”
Russell has overseen a positive change in the Shael Sexton Register on diversity, with changes in interview practices, annual review processes and recruitment and withholding strategies, as well as a new mentoring program.
Discussing the future of the industry, Russell names “labor and shortage of labor” as its greatest challenge, which have been “present and prevalent throughout our industry”. In response, the industry must “grow the pool … to diversify talent” and “embrace technology as a natural response to work force and labor shortages,” he believes.
Russell is doing a lot to grow the pool: he founded the Russell non -profit building field, which helps young people gain construction experience and to increase their exposure to the industry by creating and building projects. A participant, a high school young man, made a text message to Russell with “a few selfies” assumed at the jobs he visited. Russell says a photo shows the student “really works a drone driver”. The student was surprised that something was used in the construction. “He felt as if he were playing a video game,” Russell Relays.
There is an opportunity for the industry to “receive technology” to “get to know young people directly where they are” and show them that they can “use skills that come naturally [them] Although he continues to make a large building through shops, “the manager believes.
Russell is very involved in the industry and actively helps to represent Shiel Sexton in various groups, from the Indiana Round Table and the National Women’s Association of Women in Construction to the Youth, Indianapolis Minority Engineering Program and Junior Achievement.
