Postal Service names Gardner new District Manager, Lead Executive

GREENSBORO — Russell D. Gardner, Jr. was recently named the District Manager, Greensboro District. As District Manager and Lead Executive, Gardner oversees an annual budget of $1.3 billion, 10,000+ employees, 480 Postmasters/Station Managers, 2.8 billion pieces of mail annually, and 15 million pieces of mail daily. Greensboro District encompasses the northern 50+ counties in North Carolina, covering approximately 25,670 square miles, with mail delivery to over 4 million customers. He succeeds Henry Dix, who was promoted to District Manager, Capital District, Washington, DC earlier this year.

Gardner served as Acting District Manager since February and during his short time helped the District improve its First-Class, Express Mail and Priority Mail service performance tremendously, to its current status among the top ten in the nation. He previously served as Senior Manager, Post Office Operations for the Mid-Carolinas District (based in Charlotte). In that position, he managed the retail and delivery operations of twelve of the district’s larger Post Offices, serving 600,000 customers in eight different 3-digit ZIP Code ranges.

Gardner began his career with the Postal Service in January, 1987, as a city letter carrier in Niagara Falls, NY. He served in various positions, including Supervisor, Mails and Delivery; Manager, Customer Services; and Postmaster, Middleport, NY, before moving to Mid‑Carolinas District in February, 1998 as Manager, Customer Services in Charlotte. He was later promoted to Manager, Customer Service Operations for Charlotte Post Office, and in 2007 served as Acting Manager, Greensboro Bulk Mail Center, leading it to #1 in national rankings in Productivity and Performance.

A graduate of Montreat College in Charlotte and the U.S. Postal Service’s Advanced Leadership Program, Gardner is married with two grown children.