Chattanooga business magnate Emerson Russell got his start cleaning bricks for a penny apiece at the age of eight.
After years of business success, the 62-year-old now devotes more time to his rare car collection, including a 1967 GT-500 Shelby Cobra and a Ford Roadster imported from Africa, and spends time “plowing” at the golf course.
Mr. Russell’s rise was no accident, said Charles B. Lebovitz, chairman of the board for CBL & Associates Properties.
“Emerson is one of the most entrepreneurial-minded executives that I’ve had the pleasure of doing business with over the years,” Mr. Lebovitz said.
Mr. Russell’s father, a Church of God minister, taught him to spend only as much as he could afford, a lesson he said he has found useful in overseeing his 5,000-employee facilities services empire that stretches from coast to coast.