Russell D. Thrall III, a second-generation collision repairer, has been involved in the collision repair industry his entire life. Starting as a clean-up person in body shops owned and managed by his father, Thrall has experienced the industry from the bottom up. At the age of 14, Thrall began working part-time as a technician in a shop close to home. By the time he was 17, he was promoted to assistant manager. Thrall joined the staff of Chilton's Automotive Body Repair News (ABRN) in 1991 as technical editor. In 1992, he was promoted to senior editor, responsible for maintaining the content of ABRN editorial and representing at industry events nationwide.
From 1993 through 2000, Thrall served as editor of Collision Repair Industry INSIGHT, a subscription-based publication with English-language circulation throughout the world. In 2000, Thrall founded CollisionWeek, a business newsletter for all segments of the global collision repair industry. CollisionWeek provides daily business news and trend research on the Internet and in weekly email, fax and print editions to subscribers around the world. Thrall continues to serve as Publisher of CollisionWeek.
Also in 2000, Thrall returned to the staff of ABRN and served as Editor-in-Chief of the world’s largest monthly trade magazine until July 2004. Thrall is a frequent speaker at industry events including, the Collision Industry Conference (CIC), NACE, the Insurance Services Office APD Panel and numerous other U.S. and international events. He served as chairman of the Collision Industry Conference from 2009-2010 and is a Past-President of the National Auto Body Council Board of Directors. In December 2002, Thrall was inducted into the Collision Repair Industry Hall of Eagles.