Bulldog 100 Profile: Jason Russell (ABJ ’96)

Bulldog 100 graphic with Jason Russell speaking at a podium.
Jason Russell (ABJ '96), co-founder and CEO of a software solution company called Stable Kernel, says some of his keys to success are building relationships, leaning on mentors and being curious. (Photo: courtesy of Jason Russell)

Bulldog 100 Profile: Jason Russell (ABJ ’96)

January 29, 2025

Congratulations to Jason Russell (ABJ ’96) on being named to the Bulldog 100 list of fastest growing businesses owned or led by UGA alumni for the third time. Russell is the CEO and co-founder of Stable Kernel, a software development company that partners with large brands to develop custom solutions to complex problems.

Russell is a true entrepreneur, tapping into his curiosity, taking risks and nurturing relationships to develop companies in disparate fields, ranging from poker chips and high-end furniture to technology.

“It’s super meaningful to me to be included on the Bulldog 100 list in terms of going through the journalism school and all the things that it provided for me,” Russell said of the honor.

Russell started out as a journalism major with the idea he wanted to be a sports journalist. He says he was always good at asking questions and being naturally curious, but along the way, he changed his major to advertising because he liked the idea of learning about different businesses.

This is the third year that Russell and Stable Kernel have been a Bulldog 100 honoree. He is photographed above at the 2024 Bulldog 100 ceremony. (Photo: The Decisive Moment)

Following graduation, he spent the next ten years working for large advertising and public relations agencies including Ogilvy & Mather, Fletcher Martin and BBDO.

It was then that he decided to branch off on his own and he started his own company making poker chips. He traveled to China regularly for that job and once he sold that company, he started another company specializing in Chinese goods — namely high-end furniture.

“I’m a big ideation person,” Russell said. “I love new concepts. I love that you get to spend time weaving dreams for companies, and you get to see the business side of things, too.”

Technology has always held a strong interest for Russell, so following a few years building a consultancy for a software training company, he branched out to create his new business venture: Stable Kernel.

Following are some additional questions asked of Russell during the interview.  

Grady College: What does being recognized as a Bulldog 100 honoree mean to you?

Russell: It’s super meaningful to me. I love the university and am a huge Bulldog supporter. I go to lots of football games and love to get back to Athens. I recently toured the journalism school and the updates are amazing. I would love to get back and do talks or presentations to help future Grady students in their business pursuits.

I think the thing I’m most proud of is our company keeps growing. It’s hard to stay on the Bulldog 100 list.To make the list three times now is just a testament to all the hard work that we’ve done over the years. The first time is the easiest because usually there’s some amount of growth you’ve experienced in a couple years. But, you’ve got to keep growing at a pretty rapid rate to stay on the list, and all these businesses are all very successful. You have to have a really good trajectory and keep growing.

Grady College: How do you approach building professional relationships?

Russell: I love building relationships. I think it’s one of the things that gravitated me toward running my own business. I’ve been fortunate enough to foster a lot of relationships whether that’s from high school or college or the businesses I work for and own. I have kept a large network and to be honest a lot of business that we brought to our company is because of relationship building. I attend a lot of social events for my business, and I love going to events. I like to reach out to people.

Grady College: What habits or routines do you have that contribute to your success?

Russell: I don’t always do the same thing the same way. I realize I like building habits and routines since they are important. Building goals is something I do every year. We do it at our company, I do it personally and my family does it. But, it’s important we are building goals that are attainable and reachable, and then build habits to support those goals. That’s hard, but not impossible. I read the book “Atomic Habits” a few years back and that cemented a lot of these concepts for me. The author (James Clear) talks about building in these routines and how important it is to have things in the same place. I think if you build a nice framework with three or four points on that framework, that’s something that I’m good at following. And, allowing the creativity that’s between those points — that’s really important. You need to allow people to be creative and express themselves.

Grady College: Do you have any advice for students looking to grow their entrepreneurial skills?

Russell: Take chances! It’s so much easier to be risky, start businesses and try things when you’re younger before you have a family and a house. I’ve always been a little bit riskier, but I have certainly become more conservative over time. I think trying hard things and failing fast is really important. I feel like I have failed a million times my life. I’m in business groups, and I lean into other people and that’s another thing. Having mentors and people that who you can lean in and ask questions really advances you. Sure, I could trip my way through and figure things out and it would take me forever, or I could advance myself and create efficiencies by leaning into people who’ve already done this a million times. I am willing to have a conversation and talk to any interested student and explain how I got here. It’s really hard to build a long-standing business and I couldn’t have done it without all the help around me.

Stable Kernel was started in 2014 and has grown to a team of nearly 120 employees, many of whom gathered for a team retreat at Chateau Elan in mid-January this year. (Photo: courtesy of Jason Russell)

Russell is one of eight Grady alumni named to this year’s Bulldog 100 list, named by the UGA Alumni Association. They will be celebrated on Feb. 21. The list of Grady College alumni and their businesses include:

Ashley Kohler (ABJ ’96), Awesome Inc
Josh Cagliani (ABJ ’09), Big Apple Services
Elizabeth Newton (ABJ ’99), enewton design
Adam Hirsch (ABJ ’04), Infinite Agave
Jason Russell (ABJ ’96), Stable Kernel
Jami Horowitz (ABJ ’08), Surcheros
Stuart Watson (ABJ ’97), WinGen by Swordpoint Services
Selby Hill
(ABJ ’14), Yonder Yoga


Author: Sarah Freeman, freemans@uga.edu