Russel Simmons

{{short description|American businessman}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2019}}

{{For|the entrepreneur and music executive|Russell Simmons}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Russel Simmons

| birth_date =

| birth_place = United States

| occupation = Businessman

| alma_mater = University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

}}

Russel Simmons is an American businessman. He co-founded Yelp, Inc.{{cite news|url=http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/04/09/yelp-grows-a-pair/#more-23147|title=Yelp grows up|last=Smalera|first=Paul|date=April 9, 2010|work=Fortune|publisher=CNN|access-date=August 4, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100804135310/http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/04/09/yelp-grows-a-pair/#more-23147|archive-date=August 4, 2010}}{{Cite web|url = https://techcrunch.com/2010/06/14/russel-simmons-yelp/|title = Yelp Co-Founder And CTO Russel Simmons Is Out|date = June 14, 2010|access-date = 23 December 2013|website = TechCrunch|first = Robin|last = Wauters}} with Jeremy Stoppelman and served as CTO from July 2004 until he left in June 2010. Prior to co-founding Yelp, Simmons was a co-founder of PayPal, where he was a Lead Software Architect, and has been described as a member of the "PayPal Mafia."{{Cite book |last=Soni |first=Jimmy |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1298387920 |title=The Founders The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley. |date=2022 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-5011-9725-3 |location=New York |oclc=1298387920}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/11106473/The-PayPal-Mafia-Who-are-they-and-where-are-Silicon-Valleys-richest-group-of-men-now.html|title=The PayPal Mafia: Who are they and where are Silicon Valley's richest group of men now?|last=Parrish|first=Charlie|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=September 20, 2014|access-date=8 January 2018|issn=0307-1235}} In 2014 he founded Learnirvana.{{Cite web|last=Parrish|first=Charlie|title=Meet The PayPal Mafia, The Richest Group Of Men In Silicon Valley|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-paypal-mafia-the-richest-group-of-men-in-silicon-valley-2014-9|access-date=2021-02-05|website=Business Insider}}

Simmons graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.{{cite news| title =The U. of I. breeding ground| quote = The online review site was founded in 2004 by two U. of I. graduates and former PayPal employees, Jeremy Stoppelman (computer engineering, 1999) and Russel Simmons (computer science, 1998).| newspaper =Chicago Tribune| date =April 28, 2012| url =https://www.chicagotribune.com/2012/04/28/the-u-of-i-breeding-ground/| access-date =March 16, 2015}}