Tiger Russell-Yeh

Tiger is a multihyphenate creative director, writer, and strategist. After graduating from the University of Michigan, where he completed advanced multidisciplinary studies across psychology, cognitive science, filmmaking, and graphic design, he began his journey in the entertainment industry at Channing Tatum’s production company, Free Association. He worked his way up from grunt intern writing script coverage to executive assistant to the President, and eventually to producing and leading high-level projects.

As a creative director, Tiger has produced Times Square billboards and supported significant initiatives across entertainment, wellness, and early-stage high-growth ventures. In only a few months of business, his pitch materials have already helped raise tens of millions in private investment and have supported fresh intellectual properties in securing greenlights and funding from major studios such as Amazon/MGM.

Beyond his professional work, Tiger is a lifelong athlete, gracious chef, and committed philanthropist who has been involved in mentorship and mental health advocacy for years, including serving as a support group leader since college. He is currently developing the Built Different Foundation, a neurodiversity initiative dedicated to helping children and teens with learning differences better understand their minds and build environments, tools, and systems that honor their strengths and expand their opportunities.

Yes, the name is real.

Tiger’s name sparks a lot of curiosity. It is his true birth name, not a nickname, and not inspired by Tiger Woods. Tiger was named in honor of his Akon 阿公 (Mandarin for “grandfather”), George Yeh, an engineer whose accolades include a blueprint sent to NASA in 1968 that saved all the astronauts of the Apollo 8 mission, and a telegram sent to President Jimmy Carter in 1979 proposing a chemical solution credited with preventing mass casualties during the infamous Three Mile Island power plant leak later called “America’s Worst Nuclear Disaster” (Forbes, 2023). Born in the Chinese zodiac Year of the Tiger and fascinated by the animal’s fiery orange stripes, George filled his home with paintings and symbols of Tigers. Above all, he embodied their courage, fire, and tenacity. He passed away shortly after Tiger’s birth, and Tiger now carries the values he lived by into every part of his work and life.