Awarded September 14, 2024
2024 Distinguished Service Citation

Angela Moten Russell is living the ideal outcomes of a Beloit education: She is markedly improving the quality of life in the communities where she lives and works. Whether serving in state government to advance public health, doing equity and inclusion work in the corporate sector, or providing a forum for Black Wisconsin residents to tell their stories, she has dedicated herself to building healthy communities in which people thrive and feel a sense of belonging. She is an influential leader, guided by a strong sense of values and an intellectual curiosity that she cultivated at Beloit.

As Chief Diversity Officer for the Madison-based financial services company TruStage, she has brought diversity, equity, and inclusion forward as one of the organization’s core values and shared her expertise in public speaking engagements around the country.

A former colleague refers to Angela as “a bridge builder” for her ability to recognize connections between people and ideas when many others see divisions. Her former academic advisor in the University of Wisconsin’s Master of Population Health program recalls Angela as someone who “worked hard, learned quickly, and settled for nothing less than perfection.” In 2018, Black Enterprise magazine named Angela one of our nation’s most powerful diversity executives.

In 2020, she created and began hosting Black Oxygen, a podcast that gives Black residents an important opportunity to talk about their experiences living in Wisconsin. She hosts these episodes with empathy, humor, and joy. As a relatively new member of Beloit’s Board of Trustees, Angela is also giving back to the Beloit College community, a place she strives to emulate when creating spaces where people feel like they are seen, heard, and belong. Angela does not hold back when asked how she feels about Beloit. In fact, she could be described as a Beloit “superfan,” effusively professing her love for the college and crediting her undergraduate experiences with shaping and continuing to shape her life.

In advancing the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion, committing her skills to public service and the well-being of her communities, and loyally supporting the college, Angela reflects so positively on Beloit. The Beloit College Alumni Association is proud to claim her as a member of the alumni community and delighted to recognize her with its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Citation.