Russ Shaw

Non-Executive Director and Investor
Current Chairman—Marketing Group of Great Britain

Russ is currently a non-executive director for three companies: GAME Group plc, Dialog - a publicly traded semiconductor company, and Unwire--a Danish, venture-backed mobile commerce business. He is also a limited partner in Ariadne Capital’s ACE Fund and an investor in and advisor to Amazing Media Group.

Previously, Russ was Vice President & General Manager at Skype with global responsibilities for its mobile division globally, responsible for Skype’s mobile apps as well as carrier and OEM relationships. He also had geographic responsibility for Europe, Middle East & Africa. Russ exited when Skype was sold to Microsoft.

Before Skype, Russ was at Telefonica, where he was the Global Innovation Director. This included managing a venture fund and an internal ‘incubation’ initiative. Prior to this role, he was with Telefonica’s O2 mobile business as Marketing Director, responsible for initiatives such as The O2 venue in London.

Before joining O2, Russ was the CEO of Mobileway, a venture-capital backed start-up sold to Sybase. Before joining Mobileway, Russ was a Managing Director at NTL (now Virgin Media).

Prior to moving into telecoms, Russ spent many years in consumer financial services, both with American Express and Charles Schwab, in a variety of marketing, advertising, and brand management roles.

He has a BS from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He lives in London with his wife Lesley and his three sons.