Russ served as a police officer until his retirement in 2010. Since that time he has been the Emergency Planning Officer at South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue (SYFR) where he manages Contingency Planning, Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH), Protective Security and Business Continuity within the organisation, He also manages the SYFR National Resilience Trainers. He represents SYFR on the National FRS Resilience Direct working group and leads both the SYFR and South Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum (SYLRF) Resilience Direct Working Groups. Russ is a Member of the Business Continuity Institute (MBCI) a Certified Lead Auditor for ISO22301, a BCI applications auditor and BCI mentor. He is the Chair of the Chief Fire Officers Association Business Continuity Group and a contributing member to the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) Service Improvement and Assurance Team.