North AlabamaWorks announced Wednesday that Scott Russo of Mazda Toyota Manufacturing will serve as the new chairman of North AlabamaWorks’ board of directors.
The group Russo now chairs is the regional workforce council for Alabama’s northernmost counties. North AlabamaWorks is a nonprofit that aims to develop and maintain the workforce in its area.
Russo assumed his role as chairman on October 1, he spent the previous term as vice-chair.
“We are very excited about this upcoming year and the leadership that we know Scott Russo will continue to display as we continue the vital work of workforce development in North Alabama,” said North AlabamaWorks Executive Director Stephanie McCulloch in a statement.
McCulloch, in her role, works full time for North AlabamaWorks overseeing its day to day operations.
Paul Rehome of Monte Sano Research is the outgoing chairman and will continue to have a leadership role as past chair.
“It has been a pleasure to work with Paul Rehome and have him lead North AlabamaWorks in our workforce efforts. He has been a champion for the programs that our council runs and supports,” commented McCulloch.
North AlabamaWorks and its counterpart in other regions of the state have sizable boards of directors with representatives from each county in their region along with a few at large members.
The council in North Alabama has over 25 members, a group that Russo first joined in 2018.
North AlabamaWorks detailed the accomplishments and credentials of its new board chairman in a release:
Scott Russo is the human resources development manager for Mazda Toyota Manufacturing where he oversees professional and hourly member development. He is also responsible for supporting maintenance systems implementation as well as skilled maintenance member recruiting, assessing, hiring, and training. One of his favorite roles is the skilled pipeline development partnerships between Mazda Toyota Manufacturing and middle schools, high schools, career tech centers, and community colleges across the region.
Russo joined Mazda Toyota Manufacturing in 2018 from Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama. He began
his career at Toyota in 2002 as a group leader at Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia before becoming an assistant manager in various areas including automatic transmission, engine, and gear plant machining, assembly, heat treat, and maintenance. Russo transitioned to Toyota Alabama in 2011 as the maintenance and facilities manager and was the manager of maintenance and the 4-cylinder engineering team.
Russo and his wife, Kristin, live in Madison and have two children.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.
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