EL PASO, Texas -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection announces the selection of William E. Russell as the recipient of the CBP Commissioner’s Award for Leadership. The award is the agency’s highest award recognizing achievement in leadership. Mr. Russell is the Deputy Assistant Director of Field Operations for Mission Support for the El Paso, Texas field office.
The annual Commissioner’s Awards recognize the achievement of employees from throughout the agency in several different categories. The Leadership Award recognizes a supervisor for outstanding leadership ability who best exemplified leadership competencies to forward the mission and/or vision of CBP. Mr. Russell’s citation reads, in part for his management of the field office‘s multi-million dollar operating budget to within a few dollars each year; established an audit program that assists management in correcting operating anomalies at all ports of entry; established, edits and publishes the field office’s quarterly newsletter, The Courier, now read nationwide and requested by CBP leadership. Mr. Russell is a strong advocate of equal opportunity programs and serves on the Board of Governors overseeing the program for the El Paso area. He also initiated the only joint Education Fair in CBP in the nation, now in its fourth year. Mr. Russell established a special veteran’s appreciation program to honor CBP employees who served in the military which includes a video commemorating their service. The video salute has received nationwide accolades and the program is being used as a model by other CBP offices.
Bill is the son of William and Stephanie Russell of Van Horn and Marfa, Texas. A 1977 graduate of Van Horn High School, he attended Baylor University where he received a Bachelors in Business Administration in 1982. From 1981 to 1987 he worked for Kinko’s Graphics Corporation starting as store manager of the Waco, Texas store before serving as Acting General Manager of Kinko’s of Australia in Sydney, Australia, and then as Regional Manager of Texas and Louisiana.
Bill served in the U.S. Navy Reserve as an Aviation Technician/Antisubmarine Warfare from 1986 to 1994 and served in support of Operation Desert Storm before receiving an Honorable Discharge in July 1994. Mr. Russell joined the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1988 in Dallas, Texas transferring to San Antonio in 1993. In February 2002, he was asked to serve as administrator of the INS Command Center in Salt Lake City for the XIX Winter Olympic Games. He transferred to CBP in El Paso in September 2005.
Bill is a Certified Government Financial Manager through the National Association of Government Accountants. He is a member of the Federal Executive Association of El Paso for which he has served as treasurer since 2009, and received its Carlos Marin Federal Employee of the Year award in 2014. Bill has also been the chairman of the Desert Southwest Combined Federal Campaign since 2013.