The discussion gave Bobcats insight into Russell’s charge to work for the economic forecast of Connecticut and his aspirational work to support state goals while helping to uplift marginalized communities toward a brighter economic future.

Sworn in as Connecticut’s 84th State Treasurer on January 4, 2023, Russell made history in 2022 as the first Black, out LGBTQ person elected to statewide office in America.  A strong advocate for marginalized communities, Russell mentors young Black and LGBTQ individuals.

Prior to entering the political arena, Russell was a partner at Pullman & Comley, representing towns, cities, and the state in financing infrastructure projects, managing debt, and restructuring pension obligations. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Haven and a law degree from the University of Connecticut.

Russell’s discussion with Bobcats was the latest offering of the university’s Critical Conversation Speaker Series, which seeks to promote an inclusive and intellectually stimulating environment at Quinnipiac. Vice President for Inclusive Excellence John Armendariz introduced Sawhney Leadership Program Fellow Thamara Benavides, ’26, MBA ’27 to welcome Russell to the Common Hour event for students, faculty and staff on October 21.

“Hearing from him today means a lot to me as we both come from backgrounds that have shaped our work ethics, as we grew up with parents who were small business owners,” Benavides said.

Russell said what he likes about his role is that it focuses on the long term, which differs from most political offices and many other state government roles.

“Most of the decisions that we make in the Treasurer’s Office don’t bear fruit until five, or seven, or sometimes 10 years down the road,” Russell said. “So with that is this unique lens to really think about the future that we want in the state, and how we make decisions that move us in that direction.”

In overseeing Connecticut’s retirement plans and trust pension funds, Russell’s leadership is helping to significantly move the needle on repairing an unfunded liability caused by underfunding pension contributions for roughly 70 years.

“For some years we were not really meeting the moment in terms of our performance. We were leaving a lot of opportunity on the table,” Russell said. “Ten years ago, we had about $30 billion in assets under management and we were just over 30% funded as a portfolio. Over the last decade, we’ve more than doubled the size of the portfolio and we have improved our funding ratio,” Russell said.

Currently, with total assets of $62.7 billion under management, the portfolios are performing well above the 6.9% rate of return target to reach fully funded status, Russell said. A 10.14% rate of return was earned for fiscal year 2025, following an 11.5% rate of return in 2024.

“Just to put that in perspective, we added about $5.9 billion in assets to the portfolio in fiscal year ’25.  For fiscal year ’24 we were at 11.5%, and so with our contributions we added about $5.7 billion to the portfolio, which now has our 10-year average at 7.3%,” Russell said.

Speaking with Arora about the importance of long term versus short term decision-making, Russell said politics often play a role in short-term decision making.

“There’s a reason we went 70 years without properly funding the pensions. Many of those years, we had plenty of money. We had surpluses, we were cutting taxes, or we were dishing out money in communities, but folks who were making those decisions weren’t going to be around to have to feel the impact of the fact that we weren’t paying into our pensions. They were going to get the short-term benefit of the tax cut or the extra money that went into a community that they wanted to vote for,” said Russell.

“For me, it’s thinking about the longer-term side of this; to say we can’t just continue to kick the can down the road or pass it along to future generations… and I want to make sure that we’re not leaving the state in a spot where we’re continuing to do that.”

Russell encouraged students and others in the room to consider the benefits of taking the long view in terms of their future success.

“A lot of times, the things that are right in front of you seem so magnified. When I was going to school, it was daunting for me to think about going to college and law school, and the commitment and time it was going to take,” he said. “For me, it was saying this is a long-term thing -- this six or seven years is going to help me to get where I want to go."

Russell also invited interested Quinnipiac students to consider applying for a paid summer internship with the Connecticut State Treasurer's Office. Online applications open each year in March. Interns acquire specialized experience by working with one or more of the Treasurer’s Office divisions and units.

“We have undergraduate interns, we also have law students, and we often have some MBA interns as well, particularly in our investment team,” said Russell. “We usually have interns for specific divisions within the office, so interest or experience in different areas is a plus. But a lot of it, for me, is folks who are driven, interested, and curious, and want to have a sense of what working in public service can look like.”

One area of that work is helping the state to invest in people, Russell said.

“As the state is trying to find ways to make sure we’re improving our overall fiscal health, we’re also making life more affordable for people in our state and creating opportunities and lifting people up,” said Russell.

As a key achievement in his first term, Russell led the collaborative effort to fully fund and implement the nation’s first statewide Baby Bonds initiative.

“It’s a first-in-the-nation program that’s about addressing wealth inequality in Connecticut. Connecticut is one of the wealthiest states in the country, but we have one of the largest wealth gaps, and it is one that has continued to widen over time,” said Russell. “If you think about it from the perspective of how people build wealth, it’s usually having some access to capital to start with.”

As of July 1, 2023, for every child born into poverty in Connecticut, $3,200 is automatically invested in a trust managed by the state on behalf of that child, to be accessed by the individual between the ages of 18 and 30 for wealth-building purposes.

“They can use it to help purchase a home here in Connecticut, to start or invest in a Connecticut business, to help pay for post-secondary education or job training or to roll into a retirement savings account,” said Russell. “It’s a way for us to invest in young people, invest in the future of the state but also understanding that this about driving an economy of the future where we’ll have more people participating in a meaningful way with more opportunity.”

For Russell, the program is also personal, he said.

“Growing up between New Haven and West Haven, I didn’t know anybody who owned a home, and the difference between my parents who worked hard to make ends meet and being able to own an asset that was going to grow over time was having access to some of that capital to put down on a home,” said Russell.

Russell also championed the creation of the Connecticut Safe Harbor Fund, enacted this year. Supported by private donations, the fund provides a safe haven for individuals from states which restrict reproductive or gender-affirming care to come to Connecticut to receive the care they need. The fund will help support travel expenses, lodging and childcare.

“We’re working closely with other states around the country to build out a national coalition of states that have this option so people can access the care that they need,” Russell said.

Arora asked Russell to share more about embracing the work to create structural changes that will help improve outcomes for individuals and the state.

“That’s got to be an interesting dichotomy for you to think about --‘what are the fiscal responsibilities that I hold in this role, and what are my social responsibilities?’ How do you think about that, and work through that?” Arora asked.

Russell said while initiatives such as Baby Bonds are just a piece of the puzzle, it’s helped to spark additional conversations about how the state is thinking about investing not just from a pension fund perspective, but in its communities, as well.

“Obviously, my primary responsibility is to make sure that our pension funds are performing well and that we’re meeting our obligations from a financial perspective. But I also think that failure to make investments in people, and in the future of the state, and in lifting communities up and creating more equity and opportunity, ultimately land us in a negative space down the road. So I don’t think these two things are disconnected at all. I actually think that it’s required for thinking about building the economy of the future; and for thinking about people having opportunities to meaningfully participate in our economy,” said Russell.