H. Jerome Russell Jr. has worked across several parts of an Atlanta family enterprise. His father, Herman J. Russell, built the construction and real-estate business from which later ventures grew. Jerome's own responsibilities came to include Russell New Urban Development and the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs. In 2017, Mercedes-Benz USA included him in a panel of African American business leaders.
He earned a business administration and management degree at Georgia State University in 1985. Tuskegee University's trustee biography describes his subsequent work in Chicago as an assistant to a beverage distributor's general manager. In 1986, he returned to Atlanta to manage City Beverage, handling distribution and consumer marketing.
In 1990, Russell began property-development work through Gibraltar Land, an affiliate of the family company. He became H.J. Russell & Company's president and chief operating officer in 1995 and established Russell New Urban Development in 2003.
Banking added another area of responsibility. The Georgia Historical Society's biography records his service on Citizens Trust Bank's board and his appointment as chair of its loan committee in 2005, alongside work across construction, development, beverage distribution and consumer marketing.
Leadership of the family's businesses has been shared. The Council for Quality Growth's 2024 honoree account identifies Jerome with real-estate strategy and development, Michael with leadership of H.J. Russell & Company, and Donata Russell Ross with Concessions International. The tribute honored the siblings together with their late father.
The entrepreneurship center extends that work to other business owners. In a 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution report, Jerome discussed how established businesses could help fund innovation and partnerships. The newspaper described the center's use of the company's original offices to house and support minority startups. Russell was also elected to Tuskegee's board of trustees in 2017.
