Let's Work Together

Hi, I’m Russ

I’m a speaker, coach, and leadership columnist who has spent 30+ years buying, running, and fixing lumber businesses. Everything I teach, I learned from the owner’s chair.
Years in LBM
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Published Articles
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LBM Division Overseen
$ 0 B

Why I Do THis

I grew up in this industry. I’ve loaded trucks, made payroll, stared at a P&L at midnight wondering where the money went, and made 72 bank presentations to keep a family business alive. This industry gave me everything. I want to give some of it back.

Here's what I care about:

  • Independent dealers staying independent
  • Leaders who run the business, not just manage it
  • Operational discipline that shows up on the bottom line
  • Giving people a voice, not just a job title
  • Saying the hard thing because it needs to be said

BUILT FROM THE YARD

I didn't choose the lumber business. I was born into it.

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My dad owned a lumber yard outside Chicago. I grew up stacking boards, loading trucks, and learning how a business worked before I knew what a P&L was. After college I went into finance, worked at NCR, then United Airlines. I thought I was done with lumber.

I wasn’t.

When the family business landed in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, my brother and I decided to buy it. Not because we had a plan. Because it was ours, and we weren’t going to let it go. The state Department of Revenue had come in with an overzealous audit and the business couldn’t survive the hit.

So I started making bank presentations. One after another. Sixty-nine banks said no. Some were polite about it. Most weren’t. But we kept showing up, kept making the case, kept believing the business was worth saving.

Bank number 72 said yes. We got the financing. We exited Chapter 11. We kept the doors open. But here’s the part I never forgot. One of the bankers who turned us down pulled me aside and said something that changed the way I operate to this day. He said, “Next time, don’t wait until you need the money before you start building a relationship with a bank.”

Start digging the well before you’re thirsty. That one line has guided every business decision I’ve made since. Build the relationships before you need them. Fix the operation before it breaks. Have the hard conversation before it becomes a crisis. The best time to prepare was yesterday. The second best time is right now. That’s where everything I teach comes from. Not a textbook. Not a seminar. A lumber yard, a bankruptcy filing, and 72 banks that taught me what most people learn too late.
From the yard

To the boardroom

After we saved the family business, I spent the next three decades running lumber operations at every level.

I ran real estate development at 84 Lumber. Took on leadership roles at BMC West and ProBuild.

Learned how the big companies think, how they scale, and where they cut corners.

Then I got the job that changed everything.

I became CEO of Alexander Lumber. Twenty two locations across Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. That’s where I built the systems I still teach today. We redesigned delivery operations and added $1.6 million in capacity without buying a single new truck. We changed a $7.50 fuel surcharge to a $20 delivery fee and added $380,000 in annual profit. We took AR from the low 60s percent current to over 90 percent. Twice, at two different companies.

None of it was complicated. All of it was hard.

In 2020, I joined Do it Best, where I now oversee the lumber and building materials division. Along the way, I served on the NLBMDA board, started writing a leadership column for LBM Journal, and began speaking at industry conferences.

I’ve also been fired twice. Both times the reason given was probably not the truth.

I say that not because I’m proud of it, but because I’ve learned more from the things that went wrong than the things that went right.

Every system I teach, every story I tell, every number I reference came from doing the work. Not studying it. Not reading about it. Doing it.

My Timeline

I didn't plan any of this. I grew up in a lumber yard, got a finance degree, bought a bankrupt business, and have spent the next three decades figuring out how to run a building materials business. Every stop along the way taught me something.

1970s to 1980s

Growing Up in the Yard

My dad owned Totem Lumber outside Chicago. I grew up stacking boards, watching drivers, and learning how a real business runs from the ground up. I didn't have a title. I had a broom and a lot of questions. Turns out that was the best education I ever got.

Late 1980s

Finance Degree.
Real World Next.

Michigan State, finance degree. Then a stint at NCR and United Airlines crunching numbers for companies that actually had to make money. Most people in this industry learned the P&L after they were already running the business. I came in the other direction. That's made all the difference.

Early 1990s

72 Banks. One Yes.

My brother and I bought the family lumber business out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The state had over-audited us into insolvency. We made 72 bank presentations before we found financing. One banker who said no told me something I've never forgotten: don't wait until you need the money to start building the relationship. I've been digging the well early ever since.

Mid 1990s to 2000s

Learning How the
Big Guys Think

84 Lumber. BMC West. ProBuild. I ran real estate, led operations, and watched large organizations scale. I also watched where they broke down. The playbook I built later came directly from the gaps I saw during those years.

2010s to 2020

CEO, Alexander Lumber

Twenty two locations across Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. This is where everything got built and tested. The Pit Crew delivery system. The AR collection process. Delivery fees. Dead inventory discipline. Pricing control pulled back from the sales floor. These weren't theories. They were fixes to real problems, and the results showed up in the numbers every time.

2010s

NLBMDA Board Member

Joined the board of the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association. Was chair-elect when I stepped down from Alexander. Independent dealers are the backbone of this industry. I believed that then. I believe it now more than ever.

2018 to Present

LBM Journal Columnist

Started writing a leadership column for LBM Journal after a speech at the LBM Strategies Conference turned into something bigger. More than 60 articles since. I write because independent dealers deserve straight talk from someone who has actually run the business, not just studied it.

2020 to Present

VP of Lumber and Building Materials, Do it Best

Joined Do it Best as VP of LBM in 2021. Overseeing a division that does $3 billion in revenue across hundreds of independent member dealers. The work is the same as it has always been: help dealers run better businesses and win more often.

2026

Coaching and Speaking

Thirty-plus years of fixing real problems inside real businesses. Now I'm making myself available to the dealer owners and managers who want to talk through what they're dealing with. Operations. Leadership. Profitability. Succession. Whatever is keeping you up at night. The first conversation is free. No pitch. No agenda. If you've read my column and thought you'd like an hour with the guy who wrote it, reach out. Let's get on the phone.

Who I Work With

Dealer Owners
You took over the family business and nobody handed you a playbook. You know there's money hiding in your operation. You just can't find it yet.
Operation Leaders
You got promoted because you were good at your last job. Now you're running a location and figuring it out as you go.
Conference Organizers
You want a speaker who's done the job, knows the numbers, and won't give your audience motivational fluff.
Next-Gen Owners
You're sitting across the table from your dad, trying to earn the respect of a team that's known him for 30 years.

Work With Me

START DIGGING THE WELL

BEFORE YOU'RE THIRSTY.

Whether you need a speaker, a coach, or just a second set of eyes on your operation, the conversation starts here.

Let's Work Together

Contact Russ

Interested in working together or starting a conversation? Send me a message and I’ll get back to you soon.