Joseph LaRussa (‘99, ’03 CECS) has served on the Alumni Society Board for over a decade, and also served as its chair. During his tenure, Joseph was instrumental in growing the Alumni Legacy Scholarship endowment, which provides tuition support for the children of alumni to attend UM-Dearborn. He has also addressed the employment needs of metro Detroit residents through his service at NorthRidge Church in Plymouth. By connecting and leading over 50 volunteers, Joseph was able to create a leadership team to address the human resources and recruitment of the church. It was under his direction that the church was able to provide career transition workshops to hundreds of community members. 

A long-standing member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), Joseph was hired by the organization in April 2010 to serve as its youngest Membership director in the organization’s history. In this position, he is responsible for membership strategy, resources and management. He even sat on the SME Member Council, which advises the SME Board of Directors on membership issues. 

Prior to this position, Joseph worked at Visteon for 12 years and held the titles of Product Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Product Design Engineer, and Project Manager during that time. Joseph is also a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International, where he has organized technical sessions at the SAE Congress in Detroit, handling all aspects including soliciting papers, recruiting and managing reviewers and session management.