Joe E. Russell
Founder and CEO
Joe has been involved in the formation, financing and growth of three companies from startup to valuations in excess of $1 billion. In 1999, he was the founder of inBuilding Systems Corp., which delivered high-speed Internet by addressing the inefficiency of how Internet service companies supplied access. He commissioned a new technology “box” which enabled quicker delivery at lower costs, and combined the solution with a new approach of working through building owners and property managers. This approach was the genesis of a new industry referred to as Building Local Exchange Carriers (BLEC) and was recognized as revolutionizing high-speed internet access for multi-tenant office buildings. The company grew quickly, scaling to building access rights to over 5,000 office buildings and connecting over 750 buildings across the United States. It was successfully sold in 2000.
After inBuilding Systems sold he became the Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and General Counsel, of Brahma Holdings, LLC and its subsidiaries from 2005 to 2012. Brahma developed a series of portfolio companies to execute on a vision for transforming injury-related claims management, including, an electronic presentment and payment platform serving over 600 law firms with 10,000 users. Brahma’s subsidiary also developed an innovative software as a service company which structured medical information and salient claim considerations to empower claim adjusters to more efficiently process injury claims.
In Joe’s earlier years as a lawyer, he was in private practice focused on technology companies and also spent five years as an attorney for Texas Instruments, including three years as Far East counsel. He has served on the Board of Directors of numerous companies
Joe is a graduate of Southern Methodist University with a BBA, with honors in finance and accounting, and a J.D. from the Southern Methodist University, School of Law.