Russell cuts out of Diamondhead

Scott Russell quit his job as a managing director of Diamondhead Ventures and left the board of his one portfolio company, email software startup Habeas Inc.

Russell plans to take a year off, he said in an email to PE Week.

Diamondhead’s Founding Managing Directors Raman Khanna and David Lane did not return phone calls.

Habeas CEO Des Cahill would not say why Russell had left his board position. The company updated its website last week, listing Lane as the board rep for Diamondhead.

Russell co-founded Mobius Venture Capital in 1996, but left in July 2003 to join Diamondhead. At Mobius, he invested in such companies as Supportsoft (Nasdaq: SPRT), E*Loan, Invesmart, Personalogic and Buy.com.

Diamondhead, founded in 2000, is investing its inaugural $140 million fund. It recorded a win in April with PassMark Security, which sold to RSA Security (Nasdaq: RSAS) for cash and stock worth almost $45 million. Diamondhead had invested $8 million across two rounds alongside Menlo Ventures.

Venture Advisors Taher Elgamal and Hector Garcia-Molina will stay on board at Diamondhead with Directors Khanna and Lane.