With more than 20 years devoted to ICT development, Russell T. Ahmed prioritised several initiatives as BASIS president to realise the goals of Smart Bangladesh and is dedicated to push forward a ‘3x3 Framework’ that envisions the government, industry and academia to collaborate on human resource development, research and promotion towards boosting Bangladesh’s IT exports.

Driven by his core principle, every member matters, Ahmed held four BASIS Members Meet across Bangladesh. His efforts saw a record-breaking 65% growth in BASIS membership swelling to over 2,400 from 1,456 in January 2022 by April 2024.

Ahmed led the way to organise a series of promotion campaigns which generated valuable leads for Bangladeshi IT firms and strengthened networks among commercial banks to help BASIS members get easier access to credit and his efforts also include collateral free financial support up to BDT 1 crore for his constituents. Additionally, he has lobbied for cash incentives and ERQ facilities for IT firms.

On the other hand, projects like the Bangladesh-Miyazaki ICT Engineers Educational Training (BMEET) Project, BMEET+ and TopSE bear testimony to the campaigns yielding rich dividends. Under his leadership BASIS joined such organisations as PUM Netherlands Senior Experts, CBCCI, KOTRA and ICTA. BASIS members now export to a staggering 137 countries.

During his tenure, BASIS became a headline partner of Global Sourcing which is UK’s flagship sourcing event and promoted Bangladesh in the UK, Austria, Hungary, Germany, Belgium, France and Slovakia. BASIS also participated GITEX Global 2023 in Dubai. Along the way Ahmed, as the president of BASIS, also stewarded the largest ever SoftExpo in Bangladesh in 2023.

Russell T. Ahmed introduced the 'BASIS Luna Shamsuddoha Award' as a tribute to Luna Shamsuddoha, a trailblazer in the ICT industry, to celebrate accomplishments of women. He was instrumental in creating landmarks on Bangladesh’s ICT calendar with the likes of BASIS ICT National Awards, NASA Space Apps Challenge Bangladesh, BASIS Outsourcing Award, BASIS Tech Job Fair and APICTA Awards. He was a driving force behind a 10-episode TV show, Road to Smart Bangladesh, that shed light on critical issues highlighting the importance of ICT in Bangladesh’s vision for development.

Under his leadership, the BASIS Institute of Technology & Management (BITM) expanded its training programme BASIS-Skills for Employment Investment Program (SEIP) and following its success, BASIS and BITM are set to spearhead the Skills for Industry Competitiveness and Innovation Program (SICIP). Ahmed's leadership in training more than 60,000 young ICT enthusiasts is a testament to his resolve and determination. As CEO of CLASSTUNE, Russell T. Ahmed heads the leading learning management system (LMS) platform and a key component of the Sheikh Russel Digital Lab Project benefiting over 450,000 students. His other venture, Team Creative, is a system integration firm involved in a variety of eGovernance projects.

An MBA from IBA of Dhaka University, Ahmed has previously held the office of secretary general of the Internet Service Provider Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) as well as that of BASIS secretary general, senior vice president. He has previously been COO of Aamra Networks, a leading internet service provider where he was instrumental in defining the company's operational strategy. His tenure as chief marketing officer at QUBEE marked the launch of WiMax Internet in Bangladesh, significantly enhancing broadband access and positioning the company as a trailblazer. Furthermore, his insights as the Chief Strategic Officer at Fiber@Home, a national telecommunication transmission network (NTTN) operator, have been widely commended.