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Photo: Founders Entertainment / The Aquarian

Festivals

Tom Russell

Co-Founder and Partner, Founders Entertainment

Co-founder of Founders Entertainment, the New York company behind the Governors Ball Music Festival.

Last updated 2026-09-16

In short

Tom Russell is Co-Founder and Partner at Founders Entertainment. Built and continues to run the company behind New York City's largest annual music festival. Tom Russell co-founded Founders Entertainment in January 2011 and remains a partner in the company, according to his own LinkedIn profile and Founders Entertainment's company page.

Quick facts

Current role
Co-Founder and Partner
Primary category
Festivals
Known for
Co-founding Governors Ball; Founding Founders Entertainment; Independent festival production in New York City

Executive summary

Tom Russell co-founded Founders Entertainment in January 2011 and remains a partner in the company, according to his own LinkedIn profile and Founders Entertainment's company page. Founders Entertainment produces the Governors Ball Music Festival, New York City's longest-standing large-scale music festival.

Russell entered the festival business through an internship and then a six-year run at the New Orleans promoter Superfly, working on Bonnaroo and Outside Lands, before launching Founders Entertainment with Jordan Wolowitz to bring a comparable large-scale festival to New York. The Aquarian's 2025 interview with Russell, timed to Governors Ball's 15th anniversary, describes him as the festival's co-founder in an ongoing capacity.

Live Nation took a majority stake in Founders Entertainment in 2016, and Founders has continued to produce Governors Ball at Flushing Meadows Corona Park under that structure; Live Index records this corporate relationship rather than describing the festival as independently owned.

Why Tom Russell matters in live music

Governors Ball filled a longstanding gap in the festival market by establishing a large, recurring, multi-day festival within New York City itself, at a time when most major US festivals were located in less densely populated regions.

Russell's trajectory from a Superfly internship to co-founding an independent festival company that was subsequently absorbed into Live Nation's structure is a template that recurs across the modern festival business, in which founder-led events are built independently and later folded into major promoters.

Career record

  1. 2004-2010Worked at Superfly Productions in New Orleans, rising from national promotions director to director of the company's events group.
  2. January 2011Co-founded Founders Entertainment with Jordan Wolowitz and Yoni Reisman.
  3. 2011Launched the first Governors Ball Music Festival on Governors Island.
  4. 2016Live Nation acquired a majority stake in Founders Entertainment.
  5. 2025Marked Governors Ball's 15th anniversary in New York City.

Sphere of influence

Levels are categorical — Core, Major, Significant, Limited — and each is stated with the evidence it rests on. No numeric score is published, because none would be defensible.

New York City festival promotion
Core
He co-founded and continues to help run Governors Ball, the city's largest annual music festival.
Independent festival development
Major
He built Founders Entertainment from an independently financed startup before Live Nation took a majority stake.

Entity relationships

Current

Timeline

  1. 2011Co-founded Founders Entertainment and launched the first Governors Ball.
  2. 2016Live Nation acquired a majority stake in Founders Entertainment.
  3. 2025Governors Ball celebrated its 15th anniversary.

Related Live Index research and records

References and sources