Russell Smith took the baton as Executive Director of YouthLaunch in February 2006. He has over nineteen years of experience leading non-profit and governmental organizations in Houston and Austin, including five and a half years running a Head Start program in Houston that served over 1,100 children and their families. He has worked across the age spectrum, from early childhood to school reform to the Alzheimer's Association.

Russell holds a Master's degree in Business from the University of Texas at Austin, as well as a Master's degree in Social Work from the University of Houston. He inherited his passion for working in the public sector from his grandmother, Bert Kruger Smith, an Austin icon who was active in philanthropy for over fifty years.

Russell has held many volunteer positions, from Runaway Hotline Volunteer to Management Consultant for the United Way to Chair of the Austin Local Advisory Board for First Book. He recently joined the board of Austin Groups for the Elderly (AGE), an organization his grandmother started over twenty years ago, and serves as the chair of the Finance Committee. And for the past five years, Russell has taught a grantwriting class each summer at the University of Texas Graduate School of Social Work.

He and his wife live in north Austin with nine-year old twin daughters Abby and Alexis, and daughter Kaileigh (19) lives in Northwest Hills while attending college.