Meta director leverages AI to enhance global connectivity

As the director of edge network infrastructure at the tech giant behind Facebook, alumnus uses artificial intelligence to increase efficiency and connect with his community.

Aaron Russell (MBA '13) couldn't have predicted how his ASU education and initial careers in investment banking and supply chain engineering would prepare him for his current role as the director of edge network infrastructure at the software development company Meta, one of the largest companies in the world.

"In 2014, Meta — Facebook at the time — was hiring people who understood capital budgeting but were technical and could drive their commercial procurement and sourcing activities as the company built its global network," says Russell. "I've worked for Meta for nearly 10 years, leaning heavily on the skill sets I developed during ASU's MBA program while becoming more technical."

Edge network infrastructure is crucial to helping large data networks process data faster. By implementing caching closer to Meta’s users instead of requiring all photos and videos to be delivered from a single location, edge network infrastructure enables Instagram and Facebook users to access content more efficiently and securely while supporting a high-quality experience. Russell's team is responsible for all the video and photo content delivery across Meta's networks, including augmented reality and virtual reality content.

"Meta has built one of the largest global infrastructure networks in the world today, and my team is directly responsible for the products Meta consumers engage with daily from an infrastructure perspective," says Russell.

While generative AI is becoming increasingly common in the business world, it has always been a central focus for the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Russell has worked for Meta in several capacities since 2014. He says AI helps him be a better employee while positively impacting the people using it, from supporting small business owners scaling their organizations to safety checks to connecting loved ones around the world.

"I'm excited about any resource that makes me more efficient, creates infrastructure to keep people safe, or gives people the ability to build community and connect with others," he says.

As AI becomes a standard personal and professional tool, we caught up with Russell to learn more about how AI is revolutionizing the way he lives and works.

Question: Why did you pursue your MBA at W. P. Carey?

Answer: I wanted to pursue a highly ranked and reputable MBA program while working full-time. When I started narrowing down the list, ASU's Online MBA stood out, and I fell in love with the program after visiting campus. From my classmates to the professors to participating in a virtual cohort, it was an amazing experience.

Q: How are you implementing AI into your daily tasks in your role at Meta?

A: This has been an exciting year for the AI industry, especially for Meta. I used AI when building our strategic infrastructure roadmap to make more informed decisions by analyzing our internal data. Meta also has an internal chatbot, Metamate, which uses our open-source long-language model, Llama. The exciting thing about Llama 3.1 405B, apart from being open source — which means it's transparent and enhances the overall community — is that it's been trained on about 750 billion words, so its capabilities are fascinating. My team uses Metamate almost every day, and it's made my life more efficient by helping me capture notes during meetings and prepare presentations. Since Metamate has access to our internal resources and integrates many of our internal tools, I can also ask it questions specific to our organization.

Q: How does your team measure the effectiveness of new AI tools in the workplace?

A: As an organizational leader supporting a large global team, any time that I can get back in a day that allows me to focus strategically on other projects is valuable. With the help of tools like Metamate, I can complete tasks that previously took hours in minutes. We measure tool effectiveness by tracking how many more projects our team completed or accelerated over several months. This measurement is impactful because it considers the number of hours my team saves on performing menial tasks and shows their bandwidth to focus on tasks that enable our strategic roadmap, deploy infrastructure sooner, or improve the quality of user experience.

Q: As AI becomes more widely implemented into people's personal and professional lives, how do you anticipate AI improving our lives?

A: I'm excited about integrating AI and some of our Metaverse products because I think it will revolutionize how we interact with technology and each other. Family is important to me, and I'm trying to be more intentional about spending time with my family despite them living hundreds or thousands of miles away. Providing more immersive experiences through technology is important since I don't get to see my family as much as I'd like to, and millions of other Americans are in similar situations.

Some examples of AI-powered immersive experience products include Avatar-based video calling. Imagine using a product like Ray-Ban Meta sunglasses to perform a video call that makes you feel like a family member is walking and talking beside you. Or imagine a neural interface in the form of a wristband that can control a person's phone or other devices to give them a hands-free experience. These products will allow users to feel like they're having in-person conversations with loved ones in a different location.

Q: What skills are essential to working with AI and emerging technologies?

A: Keep an open mind and start playing around with free resources and tools to better understand how they can make a difference in your everyday life. People tend to fear things they don't understand, and engaging with these products will help them overcome some of those fears. Many free courses teach people how to use different types of generative AI. I recommend taking advantage of those resources and checking out Meta AI — some fascinating things are happening there!

Q: As a leader, how do you foster innovation and collaboration within your team?

A: I support a team of employees who work remotely and in person in offices across the globe, so I value being a leader who can think strategically while getting out of the way and allowing my team the autonomy to be successful.

Something I learned early on in my career that I value now as an organizational leader is to hire people who are smarter than me and who I can learn from. I leverage the diverse backgrounds and skill sets of people on my team to generate unique ideas that can give us an advantage in the market over other companies. We are also a cross-functional team, and one way I like to foster innovation is to empower our team leads to work closely with other infrastructure teams in policy, legal, finance, and more to address concerns and feedback to build the best products and deliver the best infrastructure possible. It's only by collaborating and communicating with others regularly that we can make informed decisions that, ultimately, benefit us all.

Learn more about how W. P. Carey alums leverage AI to better their lives and work.