Michelle Russo
- EVP, Chief Communications & Marketing Officer, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Michelle Russo is an accomplished communications and marketing leader with a track record of driving business goals, elevating brand reputation, and fostering strategic partnerships and stakeholder engagement. As CCMO at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, she plays a pivotal role in shaping and amplifying the voice of American business in Washington, D.C., across the country, and around the world.
Since joining the Chamber in 2019, Russo has spearheaded the modernization of the 112-year-old institution—refreshing its brand for the first time in half a century and leading exponential growth of its reach and impact. Under her leadership, the Chamber has shaped the public debate around key legislation impacting the business community—including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the CHIPS and Science Act—and expanded its global influence, hosting numerous multilateral gatherings and heads of state each year. The Chamber was cited in more than 72,000 news stories in 2023—a new record—and the launch of a dynamic new uschamber.com doubled website traffic. Russo also has worked to strengthen the organization’s culture with growth-oriented initiatives and employee engagement programs that drive transparency, accountability, and performance.
Prior to the Chamber, Russo spent 14 years at Discovery, Inc. (now Warner Bros. Discovery), most recently in London as Executive Vice President of Global Communications where she led cross-functional communications and marketing teams across the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. Notably, she orchestrated the company’s first broadcast and 24/7 livestreaming of the Olympic Games across Europe. Previously, Russo led the corporate communications strategy for Discovery’s debut as a publicly traded company as well as numerous mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. She also re-engineered the company’s corporate social responsibility strategy and created culture-building programs, including an annual global volunteerism day.
Earlier in her career, Russo was a media consultant on two Presidential campaigns and served as the spokesperson on media regulation and merger reviews at the Federal Communications Commission under Democratic and Republican leadership.
Russo earned a Master of Arts in Communication Management from the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies, with an emphasis in business administration, from UCLA. She serves on the Board of Directors for So Others Might Eat and on the advisory boards of small private companies and nonprofits.
