Meet the Team: Al Russo | Heeter

Senior Executive – Client Solutions

Years in the print industry: 35

Years at Heeter: 25

Al is a lifelong print industry professional.

Al went to college at California University of Pennsylvania to earn 2 degrees related to print; he also met his future wife, Gloria, there.

After working for a couple of years in print in Philadelphia after college, Al moved back to Pittsburgh and started a long, successful career in print and sales/service.

Heeter is a ‘family affair’ for the Russo’s. Gloria works in Heeter’s Customer Service Group. Al’s brother-in-law, Jason Brletich, is a pressman for the company.

Al has supported the print needs of many companies and organizations over the years.

One of his longest-tenured accounts is National Cancer Institute (NCI) which he began serving in 1990. His buyer, Paul, worked with Al from 1990 until Paul’s retirement in 2022.

Al remembers one time-sensitive job in the 1990’s where NCI was printing 1 million lay-flat perfect bound books that needed to be bound in Florida after being printed. Because demand was high for trucks during watermelon season, Al could not find any available trailer truck capacity to deliver the bound books to D.C. He finally settled on shipping them back by train which took an extra 2 weeks. Al had to go to the train depot to unload the pallets of books and get them back to the Warehouse.

Away from work,

• Al and Gloria have 2 daughters who both live in the same town in Montana and work for the same rafting company. The Russo’s spend a lot of time in Montana, skiing, rafting and enjoying the outdoors. While in Pennsylvania, they enjoy sporting clays and hanging in the woods on their Side X Side ATVs.

• Al & Gloria are always willing to put on the Tux and Gown and go to functions with clients for good causes. The photo at the top is with Steeler Troy Polamalu at the Mel Blount annual dinner.
• Al played rugby in college. Upon returning to Western Pennsylvania, Al joined the Pittsburgh Harlequins’ rugby team where he played until his retirement in 2004. Al was a cofounder of Founders Field in Indiana Township, PA, and continues to be an Executive Director of the non-profit organization.