Michael Russo is the President and CEO of the National Institute for Innovation and Technology a 501(c)(3) with a mission to identify roadblocks to innovation in strategic industry sectors and ensure they are eliminated. Under his leadership, the Institute is responsible for executing the strategy to develop the nation’s talent pipeline for tech-based industries and advanced manufacturing with a major focus on the semiconductor sector and nanotechnology related industries.

Prior to the Institute, Russo served for more than a decade in senior leadership positions in the semiconductor industry in policy development, government affairs and the development and execution of strategies to support infrastructure and workforce development.

Russo has also served as a private sector advisor to the U.S. government in the areas of manufacturing and industrial base policy and lead the private sector advisory group for the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation Institute (now Manufacturing USA) under the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) and was recently named as a member of the U.S. Department of Labor Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Apprenticeships. Russo has also served as a senior staffer in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

With more than three decades of experience in manufacturing, Russo is a subject matter expert in skills-based learning and has extensive experience in workforce and organizational development, supply chain innovation and security, and infrastructure development.