Christine Russell

Christine Russell is the first Executive Director of the Northern Kentucky Port Authority, a role she began in 2022. She also held the role of Vice President of Strategy for BE NKY Growth Partnership (BE NKY) from 2019 – 2025.

Christine’s leadership led to the NKY Port celebrating the completion of two new Northern Kentucky landmarks in 2025 – the OneNKY Center and SparkHaus. The NKY Port, with partners including the City of Covington, Kenton County and the Catalytic Fund, acquired the historic Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad roundhouse in April 2026. Christine and her team are managing the process for construction of the new Commonwealth Center for Biomedical Excellence in Covington which will break ground in summer 2026.

Christine leads a development team and works with the NKY Port Board of Directors to define and implement the strategic direction of the real estate and development organization. She manages the NKY Port’s day-to-day operations and finances.

As VP of Strategy at BE NKY, she developed and effected the strategic direction of the organization as well as managing the budget process and financial reporting.

Christine previously served as Economic Development Director for the City of Springdale, Ohio, where she focused on expanding the economic base of the city through business attraction, business retention/expansion, and project development. Her work resulted in $120 million in additional payroll and over 1,350 new/retained jobs in Springdale. In her former roles with Hull & Associates and the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority, Christine secured over $14 million in grant funding that led to the cleanup and redevelopment of 11 contaminated brownfield sites in southwestern Ohio.

Christine has held leadership positions in several professional organizations including Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) and the Urban Land Institute (ULI). She is the winner of the 2016 CREW Leadership Award, serves on ULI’s national Public/Private Partnership Council, is a graduate of Leadership Cincinnati (Class 33) and serves on the boards for Tri-State Trails and Blue North.

Christine has a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University and a Master of Science from University of Findlay.