St. Mary’s County Commissioner President Francis “Jack” Russell has been put forth by the Nominating Committee of the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) to be the Association’s Treasurer for 2014. He has served on the MACo Board since 2011.
Russell is serving his second term as Commissioner President of the Board of County Commissioners. Russell was appointed by the Governor of Maryland to serve on the Critical Area Commission for the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays and is also a member of the Patuxent River Commission, and the College of Southern Maryland’s St. Mary’s County Advisory Council. He was born in Piney Point, Maryland and graduated with a degree in government from the University of Maryland in 1965.
Russell went into business for himself on St. George’s Island building the seafood harvesting and packing operation, Sea-Fruit. In 1979, he built the skipjack, the Dee of St. Mary’s. He began converting his businesses from seafood to tourism and education in the 1980s. In 2000, he founded the Chesapeake Bay Field Lab, Inc. a nonprofit, to ensure the skipjack, the oyster house, and their respective educational programs would continue beyond his lifetime.
“I am grateful to the MACo Board and the membership for nominating me to the position of Treasurer,” said St. Mary’s County Commission President Jack Russell. “MACo serves as a great proponent for Maryland’s counties and I am honored to serve on its board for another year to help the counties solve their ever-growing challenges.”
The full MACo membership will vote on the slate of Board nominees at the Maryland Association of Counties’ Annual Winter Conference at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Resort in Cambridge on December 12. Governor Martin O’Malley will install the Board and address conference attendees with thoughts about the upcoming Maryland General Assembly Session.
In addition to nominating Russell as MACo Treasurer, the Nominating Committee plans to suggest other MACo members for the following positions among the organization’s leadership: Talbot County Council Member Thomas G. Duncan as President; Montgomery County Executive Isiah “Ike” Leggett as First Vice President; Washington County Commissioner John F. Barr, as Second Vice President; Cecil County Executive Tari Moore as Secretary; and Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt as the Immediate Past President. Each position is for a one-year term.
