August 2018 - The Feld Group Institute

Learn Today! Online Class - Leading Digital Transformation

The Journey to Becoming an Agile Business

Over the last few decades, most large and successful 20th century businesses have calcified around their legacy systems and processes. The journey to becoming more agile and nimble will require a thoughtful, well-structured, well-designed and well-executed multi-year plan. The plan needs to be focused on achieving three major outcomes – Business, Architectural and Organizational. All […]

Becoming an Agile Business

Any successful digital transformation must start with the end in mind and describe what victory would look like. In this modern era, simply stated, the Future Vision for any business leadership team should be an agile business model that can continuously innovate at speed and scale. Most businesses can look forward 3-5 years and say […]

Every Enterprise has a Choice – Transform or Decline

It’s clear to see what Amazon, Uber, AIRBNB, Apple Pay and other new world disruptors and leaders have achieved with their respective business models. These companies embody the notion of a digital business and are made for, and even have defined, the modern or digital era of business. The Challenge of Transforming into the Digital […]

Why Change?

The WHY change mandate is coming into focus for all large, legacy companies in most industries. These companies must use technology to transform into a more agile business. If they fail to do so, these companies will begin a slow decline and even run the risk of extinction. Accept that Change is Beneficial and Inevitable. […]

Guiding Principles Learned in the First 50 Years of IT

Throughout history, technological inventions have always fueled growth and prosperity. However, with today’s unparalleled, rapid-fire pace of IT innovation and global adoption, it has never been more stunningly apparent that technology is at the heart of global competitiveness, enterprise excellence and sustainable success. A Summary of My IT Career I’ve had the privilege of playing […]

Connect with Russell Villemez

Russell Villemez

Affiliate, The Feld Group Institute

Head of Technology Strategy, Dialexa – a Feld Group Institute partner

Highly regarded CTO and change agent with IT strategy and enterprise architecture expertise.

Russell Villemez is an Affiliate with the Feld Group Institute and the head of Technology Strategy at Dialexa, a Technology Research, Design and Creation firm that works with organizations on initiatives such as Operational Transformation, Business Growth, and New Venture Creation.

During 17 years in operational roles and 15 years in consulting roles, Russell has worked across a variety of industries in both executive leadership positions and as a subject matter expert. Russell thrives on the scale and complexity of leading major change agendas in large corporate environments.

Recent consulting clients include AmerisourceBergen, the American Automobile Association, Brinker International, Cubic, Equifax, and Cox Automotive. A common thread is the client’s need for strong leadership during a period of change—whether motivated by acquisitions, spin-offs, competitive pressures, or other factors. Clients also benefit from Russell’s expertise in enterprise architecture, agile development, application portfolio rationalization, technology and architecture strategy, as well as business strategy and commercial software product development.

Recognized as a versatile IT executive, adept at solving complex problems with innovative solutions, Russell’s capabilities and achievements span a continuum from business-strategy formation to hands-on IT solution development. His extensive career achievements include pioneering the first use of relational databases in high-volume transaction systems in the ‘80s, applying voice recognition DSPs in public intelligent network services for consumer markets in the ‘90s, and leading large-scale adoptions of open systems, object technology, and middleware frameworks in complex business environments, often in advance of commercially available software products.

Prior to joining Dialexa, Russell served at HP as Enterprise Services Chief Technology Officer for the Americas, leading a global capability for embedded Account CTOs in large enterprises. Russell began his career at Accenture, where he first crafted his consultative problem-solving approach, later honed at A.T. Kearny and the Feld Group. Russell’s deep telecom experience is built upon numerous director and enterprise architect positions at AT&T, Bell Atlantic, Telstra, US West, Pacific Bell, and Sprint, and as V.P. and CIO for WebLink Wireless.

Russell has a BS in Business Administration from Louisiana State University and an MBA from Vanderbilt University. In his spare time, Russell participates in amateur auto racing, and is a driving instructor with the Porsche Club of America.