Douglas Russell has been the head and managing director of MassMutual Ventures (MMV), the corporate venturing unit of US-based insurance provider Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, since the summer of 2014.
MMV invests in financial, cybersecurity and digital health technology developers as well as enterprise software providers, participating in early and growth-stage rounds. To date, it has made 66 investments and realised 10 exits: the latter have included the sale of enterprise security company Recorded Future to private-equity firm Insight Partners in 2019, as well as the acquisition of Even Financial, a search engine for financial services, by mobile banking platform Money Lion in late 2021.
Recent deals involving MMV include a lead role in the series A round for Acorn Finance, a provider of finance for home improvement projects, and participation in the series B round for real-estate investment service Fund That Flip.
Before taking control of the company’s corporate venturing unit, Russell had worked for MassMutual Financial group for almost a decade, initially as chief financial officer of the retirement income division and then as head of strategy and corporate development.
Russell said: “I am fortunate to have worked for a number of excellent companies and in a variety of roles – finance, operating, investment – over my career. In almost every situation, I’ve realised how critical the team is to the success of the business. So I am passionate about helping companies develop their teams and, along that same vein, in developing the MMV team.”
His earlier career involved stints at Prudent Financial, CIGNA and ING, among other positions. Russell has an economics degree from Brown University and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
