Meet Ben Russell

Ben Russell has spent his career in the room where it matters, with students. As founder and director of Empowerment-Ed, he has delivered respectful relationships, student leadership and wellbeing programs to more than 20,000 students across 50+ schools in every Australian state and territory.

Before founding Empowerment-Ed, Ben spent more than 15 years in school leadership roles, including Head of Student Engagement, Head of Year, House Dean and Head of Service Learning across multiple schools. That background shapes everything about how he works: he builds programs the way a school leader would want them built: tailored to the cohort, easy to slot into a busy term, and genuinely engaging for the students in front of him.

Qualifications and credentials

Ben holds a Master of Education in Leadership and is a fully registered teacher. Empowerment-Ed is an endorsed Trusted eSafety Provider, and its programs are featured in the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) Wellbeing Guide.

Speaking and conferences

Ben is a regular conference presenter on healthy relationships, student leadership and engagement. Recent appearances include the Positive Schools Conference, PromptEd: The Youth AI Conference, the ASREAP Conference, Educator Intelligence Live Australia, and the QIS Conference: Heart of Learning.

How Ben works

Ben’s approach is strengths-based and pro-social. Whether it’s a Year 8 respectful relationships workshop, a senior student leadership retreat or a staff PD session, students and teachers consistently describe the same themes: sessions that feel like a conversation, not a lecture, high energy, honest, and practical enough to use the next day.

Away from schools, Ben is a proud dad of three girls, a keen runner, and a long-suffering (outside of 2025) Brisbane Broncos fan and Wallabies tragic.

To talk about a program for your school, call Ben directly on 0422 066 281 or email hello@empowerment-ed.com.au.

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A man in a plaid shirt and khaki pants holding a microphone and a remote control stands in front of a classroom with students seated on the floor. There is a projector screen with presentation slides and a wall clock behind him.
A man is giving a presentation or lecture to a group of school children seated in an auditorium. The children are wearing uniforms, some with blue shirts. The man is standing near a whiteboard, gesturing with his right hand. There is a screen above d
A man giving a presentation to a group of students sitting at tables in a classroom or conference room with a projection screen displaying a slide.
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A group of young women on a stage, some holding hands, with a man speaking into a microphone. A large screen displays 'Chapter 7: Lead self, lose yourself' in yellow text.
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A person holding a microphone and delivering a presentation to an audience in a conference room. On the large screen behind, a slide title reads 'Chapter 2: Lead self, compare self to past self,' with two bullet points: '1. Apples and bananas' and '2
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A large group of students sitting on the floor in a spacious conference room listening to a presentation. There is a stage with two large screens displaying a slide titled 'Leadership?' and a speaker holding a microphone speaking to the students.