Dylan Russell

Dylan Russell is the executive director of Lead for North Carolina at the UNC School of Government and a co-founder of Lead for America. Lead for North Carolina places students in high-impact fellowships in local government across the state. He has secured over $6 million in private support to advance Lead for North Carolina’s mission and has placed 110 young people in local government fellowships across the state. Dylan also launched the NC COVID-19 Student Response Corps with the Office of Strategic Partnerships and placed 300 student interns in local governments and nonprofits across North Carolina. Prior to serving as executive director, Dylan was a development officer at the School of Government, a policy analyst at the NC Department of Public Instruction, a fifth-grade public school teacher, a White House intern, and a member of the Board of Trustees at Appalachian State University. Dylan served as president of the Graduate Student Body at UNC and president of the Student Body at Appalachian. Dylan was awarded the Robert E. Bryan Public Service Award from the UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor and the Plemmons Leadership Medallion by the Appalachian State University Board of Trustees.

Russell is an instructor in the UNC School of Government’s Master of Public Administration program. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Appalachian State University, an MPA from UNC-Chapel Hill, and is pursuing his Ph.D. at North Carolina State University.

The UNC MPA Program gave Dylan the tools, network, and skills he needed to launch Lead for North Carolina and co-create Lead for America. The UNC MPA Program was where he first studied the silver tsunami and human capital pipeline concerns in public management. The School’s commitment to bridging scholarship to practitioners inspired Dylan to create a similar model to connect future talent with high impact positions in local government. The faculty’s mentorship, guidance, and support were and continue to be critical in Lead for NC’s operations.