Russell began his electrical apprenticeship with Manua Electrical in Whangārei in 1978 before eventually joining McKay. At that time, Joe Faithfull was leading the business and Lindsay was working as an Electrical Engineer. His early years at McKay were varied: one week he would be doing day-to-day supermarket maintenance, the next he would be on a large industrial refinery job, never quite knowing what type of work might come through the door. The refinery became a cornerstone of Russell’s own career, one of the sites where he still spends much of his time today.

Russell continued working across Whangārei. Not long after, a major refinery fire occurred when a valve malfunction ignited, tragically claiming the life of an operator. Russell and the team spent around three months on site supporting the major repair and restoration effort that followed.

In the late 1980s, when McKay had significant work in the Pacific, Russell travelled with Joe Faithfull to Western Samoa to help progress the airport runway project. It was his first time overseas with McKay, and communications were limited to a telephone and fax machine, with no computers. They went to accelerate the job and ended up staying to help complete it with the team.

By this stage, Russell had been with McKay for around 12 years and had become an Electrical Supervisor, particularly known for dairy factory projects. Winter was the busy season and he and his team would be away for six weeks at a time, working 12–14 hours straight per day, staying in hotels or rented houses that supported the local communities. He sometimes managed several houses at once, with meals delivered daily. Many of the contractors he worked with were former McKay staff who preferred the winter-only lifestyle.

There was even a saying around Whangārei: if McKay trucks were in town, work was quiet around New Zealand, and if the trucks were gone, it meant the team was out somewhere on a major project. It reflected how the business needed to continually expand its reach to grow.

In that same year, proposals were still typed on an adding machine, letters were manually assembled, and tenders were mailed out or faxed. In 1994, Russell stepped into the role of New Zealand Contracts Manager – a position he would hold for the next 21 years, through to 2016. His main customers included Fonterra, Carter Holt Timber, and the New Zealand Refinery.

Across that period, Russell helped approximately 85 apprentices through their training. Other companies often tried to poach them once they were qualified – a sign of the calibre McKay was producing. Apprenticeship recruitment ran like clockwork: forecast the workload for the coming year, advertise roles, interview in December, and bring the new apprentices on the following January. Russell always aimed to hire locally, a principle Joe had instilled in him: hire local and support the community.

His advice to apprentices and new team members has always been the same: keep a diary. Communication and organisation matter. “If you don’t remember something, speak up and talk to your team,” he says. He encourages people to put their phones away and write things down instead as cell phones are not allowed on a number of sites and a diary does not need charging or cell phone coverage “Your subconscious will bring you back to your diary a couple of times a day.”

When McKay took on the Tīwai Point smelter project, Joe travelled south, hired locals, and established a McKay branch on site. Even after the main contract ended, the branch stayed on to handle maintenance and warranty work. It later continued under the McKay name after being sold, a strong signal to clients of McKay’s long-term commitment to the regions it served. Russell remembered Joe’s generosity and how strongly he believed in giving back.

Russell recalls how Joe had priced the Tiwai job without ever having done one before. To prepare, he travelled to Australia to tour a smelter plant that was open to the public. When a security guard asked whether he had enjoyed the visit, Joe mentioned he had not quite seen what he needed. The guard proceeded to personally show him around, giving him a clear sense of how things might look for the New Zealand project. Joe came back saying confidently, “It’s only a cable from A to B,” and went on to win the job.

One of Russell’s own memorable projects was a dairy factory build in Central Otago. The site featured a 5-tonne-per-hour milk powder dryer. Russell hired a local electrician and his team to help complete it, spent nearly four months there himself, and left the local contractor in charge of warranty work. That was in 2012. Fourteen years later, Russell saw the same electrician on TV helping farmers restore power after severe storm damage – and recognised him instantly.

Russell tried to semi-retire early in 2016, leaving just before Christmas with no plans. That did not last long as Lindsay asked if he could come back and support with tendering and projects work they had on. Russell agreed and was soon back in the mix February 2017 part time as a contractor and still is today when required.

As a Contracts Manager, Russell once had 60 people under him full time. Today, at Glenbrook Steel Mill, he helps manage over 100, illustrating how the scale of work has grown over the years. Throughout his career, his highlights were simple: when a job was done well and the client never had to call back. That, to him, was the measure of success.

Russell credits much of his success to McKay’s family culture and to the leadership of Joe and Lindsay. He has always valued the variety of work.