The leader of the behavioral health giant Headspace announced his plans for resignation.
Russell Glass, Headspace’s CEO, took to LinkedIn to announce his departure, which he called “bittersweet.”
“As I reflected on the successful integration and everything we’ve achieved over the past few years, I believe now is a natural time for me to step aside and for the board to bring in someone superb to lead the next phase of growth,” Glass wrote.
Glass was formerly the CEO of virtual mental health company Ginger. He guided Ginger and Headspace through a $3 billion merger in 2021. Ginger contributed therapy, counseling and coaching services, and Headspace brought to the table mindfulness and meditation offerings to create a unified behavioral health offering.
“When I started at Ginger, we were a 40-person startup with our first 25 enterprise clients,“ Glass said. “Combining Ginger and Headspace was a journey and life-changing endeavor that I will always cherish.”
Courtesy of Headspace HealthHeadspace offers a D2C product through its mental health app, which has touched over 100 million people. It also has B2B and EAP offerings and has worked with over 4,000 clients and partners, including Mattel, Sephora, Boston Medical Center and Western Union.
The company raised $105 million in a debt financing round in 2023, which Glass told Behavioral Health Business would be used to enhance enterprise offerings, including in-person clinical care and more robust substance use disorder (SUD) support.
Just weeks before landing the financing, Headspace was also in the news for laying off 180 employees, which amounted to 15% of the total company.
Glass said he successfully built the “culture, vision and products that serve as the foundation for industry disruption and growth.” His passing of the torch will mean the company must elect a new head.
“I am honored to have been a small part in enabling us to serve our first hundred million members, and I’m excited to bring someone in to enable us to support the mental health of the next billion,” he wrote.
Along with his work at Headspace, Glass serves on the board of the non-profit Rock the Vote and has co-authored a children’s book about democracy called “Voting with a Porpoise.”
Glass did not specify the exact date he would step down, but said he would stay in the CEO role until later this year.
“For now, I will continue to guide the company as CEO, so it’s not goodbye quite yet,” Glass wrote. “But when that time comes, it will be bittersweet.”
