Russell Alan Johnson ‘71 BSEE

Russell Alan Johnson received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1971 from New Mexico State University . He graduated Summa Cum Laude.

Russell received a Master of Science in Industrial Administration from Purdue University in 1973. He was named a Krannert Scholar (top 5 graduates in class of 150).

Russell is currently a partner with KPLJ Ventures LLC. The company is a $100 M private venture investment fund focusing on companies involved in optical components, wireless components and optical networking. Prior to joining KPLJ, Russell was Senior Vice President for Global Sales & Marketing for JDS Uniphase Co. (1998 - 2001). JDS's sales grew from $170 M to approximately $1.5B under Russell's leadership.

From 1973 till joining JDS in 1998, Russell was with Hewlett-Packard Company. Russell served in many marketing and manager positions while with HP.

1971 - 1972, Russell was with Mountain Bell in Albuquerque where he was selected for AT&T's Management Development program.

Russell is a member of IEEE and Sigma Chi Fraternity.