October 16, 2000

Health Champion takes on the US-Mexico border.

By Patrick Osio, Jr.

There are some persons who looking back at their career can smile in contentment. They find themselves at a point where they have achieved success, made and continue to make, a contribution to the community through their work. They find themselves in the perfect job - professional satisfaction, and making a major contribution to the betterment of others.

One such person must surely be Russell A, Bennett.

Russell is one of those individuals who has the genuine respect of all who have the good fortune to know him, and know the road he has traveled. He has been successful at every position he has held since the early 1970s.

His education and positions from 1971 through most of 1993 all seemed to have prepared him for the one perfect job. A job where all his diversity and accomplishments could be brought to bear to succeed where others before him had experienced limited success. What attracted Russell to the job? None of his previous positions were even remotely associated in the field with the open position.

In November of 1993, Russell became the Director of Sharp Health Care's International Services, later changed to Director of International and Multicultural Services. His original job was to establish working relationships with the best hospitals and doctors in Mexico and Asia catering to wealthy or medically insured patients who might need high technology medical treatment, and thus refer them to Sharp. To be sure, it was a good job, but not one that would merit particular attention in high circles. But Russell saw the range of possibilities far beyond the original concept presented to him.

 Russell is 100 per cent fluent in English and Spanish, and 70 per cent in French. He received a BA in Economics (Honor student), and Masters in Business Administration from the University of the Americas, plus for two-years he studied Electrical Engineering at Tulane University.

 He became a banker, first with Continental Illinois National as Deputy Manager for all lending and trade relationships with Mexico. He then joined BANAMEX (Banco Nacional de Mexico) posted six years in Mexico City, two years in New York, and four in Los Angeles. He managed all business development with Fortune 1000 U.S. corporations, and account and credit relationships with major multinational corporations from Japan, France, Germany and Sweden, as well as most major Mexican corporations while posted in Mexico.

He then became a high-profile consultant to numerous multinational companies doing business in Mexico and South America, which led him to the Presidency of JWP Latin America, Inc. and its subsidiaries. JWP was the largest electrical, mechanical and technical services contracting company in the U.S. and Canada.

 So it came as a surprise to some of us that Russell would take the Sharp Health Care position. But Russell turned it into a dream job. He saw not only the international possibilities, but also the health care and multicultural services, and community educational resource Sharp could become to the San Diego Hispanic and Asian communities, and to Mexico.

The International Department Russell leads, now has many of the administrative functions of a full hospital entity. In addition he is the Director of the Sharp International Institute maintaining contact with 1,200 physicians in Mexico, and is the Founding Director of Sharp Multicultural Health Institute providing community health education in Spanish and English via video-conferences, newsletters, and other culturally-competent materials.

He supervised the production and acts as the moderator of the video-conferences, which air over most cable community channels, dealing with important health, dietary, and commonsense safety topics. The videos are produced in English and Spanish, which are made available to schools, parent-organizations, and for general distribution. Likewise the newsletters deal with numerous topics and are bilingual.

In the short seven years Russell has been at the helm of his departments, he has made a magnificent contribution to the San Diego and binational region. Seminars and conferences scantly attended are now standing room only, the newsletters are widely distributed, and the videos produced are sought after for their educational value.

 One would think that Russell would be content, but not him. He cast his hat into the ring for the nationally coveted position of General Manager of the U.S. Section of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission. (BHC) created by Congress Public Law 103-400 in 1994.

 The long national list of applicants was shortened to 100, then to 5 and then Russell A. Bennett was chosen.

 They got the right man.

On November 1, 2000, Russell as BHC General Manager begins coordinating border health issues and education between the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, and the corresponding border-states in Mexico.

Patrick Osio, Jr. can be reached by email at posiojr@aol.com