Russell Johnson & Associates

At Russell Johnson & Associates, we support our clients in attaining their full potential for fulfillment and self-actualization. Our methodology, tools, one-to-one consulting, and coaching are designed to meet the complex needs of executives and entrepreneurs. 

Our clients develop the clarity, strategy, tactics, mindset, skills, and confidence necessary to achieve objectives ranging from accelerated advancement to major career change. And we provide ongoing long-term support for further career growth.

WHAT WE STAND FOR

We are dedicated to empowering the individual because our world needs the full contribution of us all, and we all benefit from maximizing the value we create. 

Because services such as recruitment and outplacement are funded by employers, they perpetuate a distortion of the balance of power between the employer and the individual. Superficial services focused on employers' objectives leave countless high-potential people disempowered, unfulfilled, and not knowing why. Yet with career paths becoming ever more complex, we all need to see our career as our business and operate with the attributes of a successful business. 

We aim to help make this the ‘new normal’ rather than the rare exception.

WHAT WE DO

We help our clients develop the empowered mindset, vision, clarity, strategy, tactics, self-marketing skills, and confidence to achieve their full potential for contribution and self-actualization.

Our clients become free from the artificial constraints of the advertised job market. Whether they continue on their current paths, change direction, leave their jobs for self-employment, or vice versa, there’s a lasting difference. Through deepened awareness, clarity, and the skills to capitalize on these, they are no longer trapped in unsuitable careers. 

They work for purposes they want to serve and in roles where they can make their full contribution and enjoy the lives they want.

Founder and CEO

Empowered Careers

Empowered Careers helps people in early professional careers who find themselves stuck in unsatisfying roles to create fulfilling futures. 

Our philosophy corresponds to that of Russell Johnson & Associates, the firm through which we provide the extensive one-to-one support that senior-level clients need.

EPR Careers

I founded EPR Careers after a long search for career fulfillment when the experiences of a takeover at Arby's led me to acknowledge that I needed a new and more fulfilling career path than the corporate one I had been on. 

I was attracted to the autonomy of self-employment; however, I committed to supporting the transition to new ownership at Arby's and stayed on for two more years. Then, I left to devote full time to the search for the transformation I wanted.

I sought high-quality career support but was unable to find it in either the US or my home country, Australia. Recognizing that many executives and professionals needed such support, I established EPR Careers, initially with a partner whose experience in owning a recruitment business added another perspective to mine.
  
Over the ensuing 22 years, I developed a team with offices in Melbourne and Sydney, and we provided services throughout Australia and internationally. I led the development of EPR's services, continually refined our methodology, and built the firm into a global leader in its field. 

I focused on developing and refining our unique approach and we helped many thousands of self-funded clients to achieve their objectives. However, the business model needed more work. 

Others saw opportunities in this and the business was acquired in 2014 by a consortium of staff and former clients. They ultimately closed the firm in 2016. Meanwhile, I reflected on the lessons of my 22 years at the helm of EPR and subsequently launched a new firm incorporating those lessons.

Founder and Managing Director

Arby's

Founded in 1964, Arby’s was an established quick-service restaurant chain, part of the Fortune 500 and New York Stock Exchange-listed Royal Crown group. I joined the company as Director of Franchising with a mandate to expand the franchise system after a decade of stagnation and failed attempts to restart it. 

Over the next six years, I built a high-performing team and transformed the attractiveness of the franchise system and the strength of the Arby's brand. 

Led all franchising activities including planning, marketing, sales, administration, site selection and acquisition, financing, construction, fit-out of restaurant premises, franchisee induction and training, ongoing operational support, and relationships between the company and its franchisees. 

The chain was transformed from a laggard in the restaurant industry into one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing franchise systems and experienced its golden era. I advanced to Chief Franchising Officer and Senior Vice President, reporting to the CEO as equal number two executive of the company. 

Major Achievements:
•	Developed rigorous systems for franchisee support 
•	Quadrupled the number of franchisees
•	Achieved growth of well over 200 new restaurants annually, making the company one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing restaurant chains, employing over 50,000 people, with over 1,850 restaurants and more than 200 under development
•	Despite the turmoil of a takeover in 1984 and over a year without a CEO, the company was independently and repeatedly ranked in the top ten of the approximately 3,000 franchise systems in the U.S. at the time
•	With a new restaurant opening every 39 hours on average, Arby’s became recognized as the most significant turnaround of the period in the American restaurant industry, and one of the greatest franchising success stories of the era.

Chief Franchising Officer and Senior Vice President

International Multifoods Corporation

Joined the Franchise Division of International Multifoods, a Minneapolis, MN-based Fortune 500 and New York Stock Exchange-listed company in a head office role. After gaining initial franchising experience, relocated to Atlanta GA, managing franchise development in the Southern region of the US. Subsequently declined promotion to Director of Franchising at head office and instead accepted a role at the same level but with greater potential at Arby’s Inc.

Managed development of fast food franchises in several regions of the U.S. and in Canada.
	Selected franchisees and sites
	Assisted franchisees in real estate, financing and construction negotiations

Regional Franchise Manager

Unfulfilling executive career? Transform it before it traps you.

At 14, I was pulled out of school to get my first full-time job by a family crisis.

That disruption sparked a long journey through many industries and layers of the working world.

From office work to construction and self-employment in Australia, study in the UK and ministry in Africa, then from sales to senior executive roles in the US.

At Arby’s, I advanced to Chief Franchising Officer and led its transformation to one of the fastest-growing restaurant chains globally. 

With a new location opening every 39 hours, we were rated in the Top 10 of over 3,000 franchise systems in the US. 

Then, a corporate takeover harmed the culture.

I resigned to find a meaningful new path, then stayed on for a nearly tripled income. 

Two years later, I resigned again, to buy or create a business aligned with my values.

A few months on, I realized I was lost. 

I sought high-level, values and vision-based career support, and couldn’t find that either.

But that experience led me to finally recognize my calling—to fill that market gap.

Since then, I have spent decades helping executives worldwide align their careers with their deeper values and awaken their dormant clarity, confidence, energy and impact.

My colleagues and I have guided thousands through critical transitions, enabling them to align their careers with who they truly are—and with what they most want to contribute. 

I do this work because I believe that society needs more leaders doing work they find personally meaningful. 

And that begins with taking charge of their careers, rather than surrendering them to systems that meet their lower needs but not their higher aspirations. 

If you’re ready to reimagine what your career can be, let’s explore what’s possible.

📅 Schedule a conversation: https://rjacareers.com/schedule-a-call-rj/

Russell Johnson

Stuck in career quicksand? 
 
It's not necessarily your fault. 
 
Consider this: Analysis paralysis is often seen as the villain, freezing us in our tracks. But what if it's actually your superpower? 
 
In a world obsessed with speed, taking your time to analyze might in fact be your edge. 
 
It’s a characteristic of thoughtful people who don’t settle too easily. 
 
Yet too much of a good thing can be harmful. The trick lies in finding the balance. 
 
Start by setting a 'decision deadline'. Give yourself the freedom to explore options, but with a clear end in sight. 
 
Next, embrace the 'good enough' principle. Perfection is an illusion. Aim for progress, not perfection. 
 
And recognize and implement the power of iteration. We are living in times of rapid change. We need to be nimble. 
 
Finally, tap into your support network. Sometimes, a fresh perspective is all it takes to break the cycle of overthinking. 
 
Your analytical mind is a gift. Use it wisely. 
 
Ready to turn your analytical inclination into your career superpower? 
 
Let's break free from the quicksand, together. 
 
Engage below if you're ready for a shift. 
 
~~ 
 
𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦, Russell Johnson 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 

#SelfActualizedLeadership #LeadWithPurpose #LeadershipDevelopment

Hexagon's Autonomy & Positioning division

- Design, develop, test and document antenna architectures, structures and PCBAs

- Certify products are delivered in accordance with the NovAtel Product Development
Process including design and test data peer reviews

- Diagnose malfunctions in existing products and make improvements or modifications to increase product reliability and/or manufacturability.

- Lead root cause analysis investigations and document corrective actions

- Support sales and marketing with product recommendations, new design suggestions, and
request for quote technical assistance

- Perform technical writing which may include proposals, reports, test procedures, and
specifications

- Assist in the planning, testing, and documentation of product performance against design,
robustness, manufacturability and regulatory requirements

Antenna Specialist

Sinclair Technologies: A Division of Norsat International

- Designed a beam-steering antenna array for maritime communications (Inmarsat) and global navigation (GNSS) (patent; 天线阵列; WO2022036564A1 ANTENNA ARRAY)

- Designed a novel collinear antenna array for small radome enclosures (patent in filing process; COST-EFFECTIVE WIDEBAND COLLINEAR ANTENNA ASSEMBLY ENCLOSED IN NARROW RADOME; 200921CN)

- Designed cross-polarized remote electrical tilt (RET) panel antenna for 5G base station system

- Designed dual polarized omni-directional antenna for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system

- Designed derivatives of collinear antenna arrays for public safety equipment (base stations) in International markets

- Project management for new products (NPI) according to ISO 9001

- I.D.I.E. (employee) Awards for Excellence and Innovation

Antenna Design Engineer

University of Alberta

-	Involved in project titled "Ultra-wideband microwave imaging system for rock and metal detection upstream of the crusher"

-	Prepare grant proposal.

-	Supervise graduate students.

Research Associate

Okanagan College

-	Trained college students in Communications, Embedded systems, C programming, Electrical circuits and Micro-controllers (Microchip PIC MCUs) courses.

-	Influenced the purchase of a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) and created seminar and new laboratories on the use of the VNA to characterize antennas, amplifiers and filters.

-	Instructor for Capstone projects; project management for final year student projects.

-	Official for RoboCup 2016; West Canada Junior League.

College Professor (Term)

-	Developed a quasi-isotropic antenna (patent pending; US 15/673,862 and Canadian 2,938,901).

-	Advised by Prof. Pierre Boulanger, P.Eng.

-	Developed a microwave tomography system for biomedical imaging application [filtered back-projection (iradon) algorithm with SAR focusing; achieved close to 5mm resolution].

-	Developed a UWB SAR imaging system for SAGD (oil-sands) process monitoring.

-	Developed a method to use transients in open ended waveguide for dielectric slab permittivity extraction.

-	Investigated antenna beam-steering using time-domain interference pattern (interferometry).

Postdoctoral Fellow

Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta

Instructor for Electrical Circuits course (ECE 209) for the Spring/Summer Co-op students. Prepared course materials, delivered course, managed Lab. instructors and evaluated students' performance. Class size ~70.

Sessional Instructor

-	First to demonstrate a decade bandwidth (1 to 10GHz) circularly polarized UWB antenna design.

-	Won the Faculty Teaching Assistant award.

- Demonstrated robustness for contactless vital signs monitoring using circularly polarized UWB radar sensing.

-	Developed a method to extract the dielectric constant of arbitrarily shaped objects remotely for material mapping/imaging applications (free-space time-domain reflectometry). 

-	Performed genetic optimization routine for antenna feed network design.

-	Studied and established method for customized probe pattern correction for near-field anechoic chamber antenna measurements.

-	Designed 180 degree and 90 degree 3dB hybrid couplers operating from 1 to 10GHz.

-	Designed pulse generator circuit for low pulse repetition rates.

-	Implemented a time-expanded (equivalent-time sampling) architecture for UWB radar system.

-	Investigated the modeling of pulse radiation for broadband antennas.

-	Determined the link budget consideration for pulsed wireless systems.

Research Assistant

Institute for Infocomm Research

-	Developed a UWB radar localization system for an European defense company (industry project).

-	Led the engineering team to win the Tan Kah Kee Young Inventor's Award.

-	Developed a passive RFID system for networked inventory tracking for a Japanese logistics company (industry project; in collaboration with team from Institute of Microelectronics).

-	Knowledge transfer of the system design to a systems integrator.

-	Designed interference suppression filters for UWB systems using coupled resonators.

-	Designed a microstrip elliptic UWB band pass filter that fit within 1 sq. inch of RF PCB space.

Senior Research Officer

Nera Telecommunications Ltd

-	Product engineering for high volume microwave network point-to-point radio equipment (including technology transfer from US).

-	Developed 17GHz and 28GHz ODU module with sub-contractor (Remec).

-	Coordinated parts localization for cost reduction (achieved ~10% cost down).

-	Created test procedures for manufacturing line.

-	Managed engineering change documents (ECNs) and return merchandise authorization (RMAs) for product line.

-	Involved with the implementation of new Quality Management System (Windows .NET based).

-	Coordinated CSA type approvals for product revisions (engaged Spring Singapore).

-	Planned for production ramp-up with contract manufacturer (CM) and conducted second sourcing for CMs.

Senior Product Engineer (secondment)

Sanyo Manufacturing Corporation

-	Developed prototype RF boards for UMTS handsets.

-	Optimized antenna circuits for international roaming model for high volume cellular handset production.

-	Conducted receiver sensitivity tests in anechoic chamber for Japanese type approval standards.

- Designed LNA circuits through biasing and ports impedance optimization.

-	Designed PA circuit using load pull method.

Trainee

Supported and encouraged, to support and encourage.
                                                 .

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