"When I turned 50, I decided to apply all my energies and experience in life to making a positive difference. That's why Jim and I launched Legacy Venture."

Russ Hall
Managing Director

Russ Hall co-founded Legacy Venture in 1999, along with Jim Anderson. As a Managing Director, Russ helps shape the fund’s strategy, manage its investments and tap the power of venture capital to help Legacy members amplify their positive impact in the world. He also serves on the board of the fund’s philanthropic arm, Legacy Works, and was its founding chairman.

Russ was well prepared for the challenge. He had served as Vice President for R. Eliot King & Associates, a boutique money management firm; as Vice President of Marketing for the technology start-up Logic Modeling; as Director of Sales and a Marketing Manager at another start-up, Silicon Solutions; and as an associate at the venture capital firm Merrill Pickard Anderson & Eyre. Earlier in his career, he had worked as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, and as a captain in the Army Corps of Engineers.

Of all those positions, Legacy is his favorite, and not just because of the satisfaction of having brought Legacy from an idea to a reality. “If you ever wanted to be buoyed up by the goodness of mankind, Legacy is the place. We help people and organizations change the world.”

In addition to his leadership at Legacy Venture and Legacy Works, Russ serves on the board of the Gathering and The Philanthropic Workshop West, two active networks of philanthropists who share skills, commitment, and imagination to help solve major social and environmental challenges. He also serves or has served as an elder at his church; on the board of the national ministry Time Out; as well as on the advisory board for the Full Circle Fund, Good Capital, Stanford’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS), and the Global Philanthropy Forum. Russ is also a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum of Silicon Valley and a member of the Donor Effectiveness Network.

Russ earned an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, an MS from the University of California at Berkeley, and a BS from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He and his wife, Debbie, have one daughter.