Our People
Mark L. Russell
Mark L. Russell is founder and CEO of Russell Media (www.russell-media.com). He has a PhD in Intercultural Studies from Asbury Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a Bachelor of Science in International Business from Auburn University. His PhD thesis was on the topic of Business as Mission (BAM).
Mark is a frequent public speaker and has worked as a consultant for a diverse set of organizations. He has done extensive work in areas of poverty, empowering microentrepreneurs through microfinance and other economic development initiatives. Mark has lived and worked in Russia, Chile and Germany and in traveled to over 70 countries to carry out a variety of business, educational, humanitarian and religious projects. He has been published in over 60 academic and popular level publications and is the author of The Missional Entrepreneur (New Hope Publishers), the coauthor of Routes and Radishes and Other Things to Talk About at the Evangelical Crossroads (Zondervan) and editor and publisher of Our Souls at Work: How Great Leaders Live Their Faith in the Global Marketplace. Mark lives in Boise, Idaho with his wife Laurie, and their children, Noah and Anastasia.
Laurie D. Russell
Laurie D. Russell is the Chief Creative Officer of Russell Media. She has numerous publications to her credit. Laurie has worked for numerous law firms, a marketing company and a couple of publishing houses. She is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and has served as Stewardship Coordinator for the Boise Chapter of A Rocha, a Christian conservation organization.
Laurie has lived and worked in Russia, Chile and Germany and has traveled to around forty countries on a variety of projects. She lives with her husband, Mark, their two children, Noah and Anastasia, their two dogs, Louie and Gracie, and their two cats, Molly and Ferris, in Boise, Idaho.
Drew Steffen
Whether it is the buildings we live and work in or the books we pick up off the shelf to read, Drew operates on the premise that design is all around us and excellent presentation is crucial to any endeavor. Trained as an architect, Drew sharpened his skills designing skyscrapers before attending Yale University, where he earned both a Masters in Architecture and a MBA.
Drew has prolific design, building, and management experience. He has created an exhibit that was selected by the Finnish Cultural Institute of New York to tour museums in Europe and the U.S. Drew also co-edited and published Future Proofing, a book on techniques that architects can use to create cities and buildings with long-term viability, which is distributed by Norton Press. He works in the real estate development field in Houston, Texas, in addition to operating his media consultation company.
Nicole Wong
Nicole (www.nicolecwong.com) is an award-winning business journalist who has worked on the reporting staffs of The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and San Jose Mercury News and on a freelance basis for VentureBeat.com and WalletPop.com. She’s reported extensively on management and workplace issues, technology companies and tech culture, travel and transportation, education and youth health issues, and city government.
Nicole also works one-on-one with business professionals as a writing coach and has taught high school students as an assigning editor at the Mosaic Urban Journalism Workshop in Silicon Valley. She’s spending the 2009-2010 academic year as a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economics and Business at Columbia Business School and Columbia Journalism School. Nicole earned a BS from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley and will receive a Masters of Science in Journalism from Columbia University when her fellowship ends in May 2010.
Andrea Nagy Smith
Andrea Nagy Smith is a case writer for the Yale School of Management. She has produced cases covering a variety of organizations, including Boston Scientific, the New York Police Department, American Greetings, Agora SA, Mercy Corps, the Connecticut Department of Transportation, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Polaroid Corporation.
For Yale's interdisciplinary course on Faith & Globalization, she produced ten online case studies on topics including the decline of Christianity in Sweden and the rise of Christianity in China. She is also an editor of the New Oxford American Dictionary. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Virginia.
Sandi Funkhouser
Sandi is a seasoned writer, trainer, speaker, and certified E-learning specialist. During her career, Sandi has enjoyed the privilege of speaking and working on five continents, in ministry, and in the corporate world. Her work in “corporate America” allowed her to experience the inception, growth, and maturity of several companies and to help several hundred small business owners find their footing in the business world.
Sandi has written for both corporate and faith-based publications and is the author of the book, The Doorkeeper: In the King’s Presence. She is also the managing partner for Three Sisters Communication, LLC and works with Price Associates in Boise, Idaho. Sandi has been certified as a Professional Behaviors and Values Analyst and is a life coach.
Melissa Killian
Melissa Killian has a BA in International Relations and a BS in Business. She continued to pursue her passion for intercultural human resource and product development in graduate school while living in Athens, Greece. After earning her MBA in International Management, she worked in training and development for the university before joining Christian Business Leaders International as their partner and product development coordinator. Helping pastors, speakers, and all types of leaders identify and develop their best messages was a natural fit, and as a pre-journalism major, has found ghostwriting to be a natural gift.
In the past five years, she and her husband Rick have launched a non-profit to serve the youth in their area and are currently working with the college prayer movement. They are the proud parents of two high achieving teen-agers, Hannah and Caleb.
Rick Killian
Rick Killian is a freelance ghostwriter, editor, and consultant for Killian Creative, which he started with his wife, Melissa, in 2001. Rick Killian earned his BA from Willamette University majoring in English and minoring in math, clinical psychology, and religion. After college, Rick served two years in the Peace Corps, which is also where he and Melissa met. The two taught and ministered in Greece for eight years and after returning to the States, began working in Christian publishing.
Rick began his publishing career in editorial development at Albury Publishing where he oversaw production of the Gold Medallion nominated and bestselling collaboration between dc talk and The Voice of the Martyrs, Jesus Freaks. His first project as a freelance writer was ghostwriting its sequel, Jesus Freaks: Revolutionaries, and has collaborated on nearly fifty titles, which have sold over 2.5 million copies. Two of those titles hit #1 and #4 on NYT Best Sellers Lists.
