 Russell is a member of the Advisory Board of Innovate Finance, an independent not-for-profit membership organisation serving the global FinTech community and a Court Assistant to the Haberdashers' Company.The only son of Anthony Russell, a stockbroker, he is in remainder to the family baronetcy, created for his great-great-uncle, Charles Russell, founder of the eponymous law firm.Charlotte "née" Bowater, his mother, was from a Kentish family of paper packagers;
her father, Sir Ian Bowater GBE, was Lord Mayor of London for 1969–70, and his father Sir Frank Bowater, Lord Mayor for 1938–39.