Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
The Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations has unanimously elected Basil Russo to serve as the organization’s new president.
Representing 50 of the largest Italian-American groups in the country, the CPMIAO is headquartered in New York City and advocates for the 17 million Americans of Italian descent.
Russo currently serves as national president of the Italian Sons and Daughters of America, one of the largest Italian-American fraternal associations in the country.
A native of Cleveland, he acts as chairman of the city’s Columbus Day Parade. He is a founding and managing partner of the law firm Russo, Rosalina & Co., and served as a judge of the Ohio Court of Appeals and the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, for which he received an Excellent Judicial Service Award from the Ohio Supreme Court. He has spent more than 20 years as president of the Justinian Forum, a legal bar association that represents attorneys and judges of Italian-American descent.
Russo also serves as an executive committee member of the National Italian American Foundation and vice president of the National Columbus Education Foundation in New York. He was a driving force behind the creation of the Bishop Anthony Pilla Italian American Studies Program at his alma mater, John Carroll University.
One of the founding members and current chairman of the Cleveland Italian Film Festival, he was the executive producer of the independent film “Pieces,” which was written and directed by his sons, Anthony and Joseph.
