Program Mentors
Program Mentors
Our Mentors generously volunteer their time to provide expert advice and industry insight to innovative technology teams and startups. Launch Blue Mentors have deep industry experience in a wide variety of technology areas, product development, business operations, and fundraising.
Landon Borders
UK Innovate
Landon Borders is Senior Associate Director for Innovation Economic Development and Industry Partnerships for UK Innovate and Executive Director of UK Innovation Connect, UK Innovate's industry partnership program for UK Research at the University of Kentucky. He leads efforts to support industry partnerships and economic development objectives for research and innovation at UK, including in alignment with Kentucky's priority industries as well as UK's Research Priority areas.
For over twenty years, Landon has been a leading innovator of new products and technologies that have made a lasting impact on Kentucky industries. Previously, he was the Director of Product Development at Bullard with responsibility for global patent portfolio, technology development and new product introductions leading multi-discipline design and engineering teams across the globe. Prior to Bullard, Landon worked at Big Ass Fans and Lexmark International where he developed and commercialized internet-connected devices, software solutions and imaging systems in various roles. Landon has served on the Advisory Board for Launch Blue, as Board Director for Thread Group, The Connected Lighting Alliance and JSRDF, and is a proud graduate of UK with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.
Allen Johnson
Lexmark
Allen Johnson is a collaborative leader with over 30 years of industry experience. His career has included multiple development and leadership roles ranging from embedded systems development on a small research team to leading initiatives that include embedded systems, premise software and cloud software in a large, multi-national development organization.
As a Lexmark Laureate, he has visibility across Lexmark's imaging, Ventures, and Lexmark Optra and IoT Platform initiatives. He has also been focused recently on the application of Design Thinking principles.
Wes Johnson Searchers Capital
Wes Johnson started his career as an Electrical Engineer at G.E. where he graduated from the Edison Engineering Development program, G.E.'s top program in engineering and product management leadership. During his career, he worked at two Fortune 100 companies, G.E. and Medtronic, where he led Marketing, Strategy, & M&A in multiple, progressive leadership positions, including partnerships and acquisitions of medical device companies. Recently, he was Vice President, Marketing at Bullard, Inc. developing a multi-year strategy that saw seven new innovative products launched and helped the business return to growth.
Currently, he is the Chief Operating Officer & Partner at Searchers Capital, a private equity firm focused on real estate, where he has raised capital and provided financing for thousands of residential and commercial real estate transactions throughout North America, growing the business more than 30 percent year-over-year.
Wes has an M.B.A from the University of Arkansas, Sam M. Walton College of Business and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University. He also has received Executive Education training from The Wharton School and Vanderbilt University.
Dr. Anatoly Ustyanich Catalent Pharma Solutions
Dr. Anatoly Ustyanich started his career in Ukraine, operating his own start-up Technopharm, were he led the development, manufacturing and marketing of the Fluid Bed equipment for tablet and dispersed materials coating. Also, he has more than 25 years of global experience in the R&D/MFG of pharmaceutical and medical device products, from early-stage development through commercialization. He has leveraged technical knowledge, business acumen and project management skills to enable timely projects delivery and promoting revenue growth, and has identified and resolved complex challenges and translated complex long-term objectives into easy to understand and follow milestones.
Dr. Ustyanich has had roles with progressive responsibilities at various global companies, including Patheon, Apotex, and Novartis. In his most recent role as Vice President of Product Development at International Vitamin Corporation, he led a team of 40 scientists and oversaw OSD and Soft Gel development at four US company sites. Throughout his career, he has developed, optimized and troubleshooted over 100 products. Currently, he is the Director of Product Development at Catalent Winchester and is focused on the development of the innovative pharmaceutical OSD products.
He has an Ph.D. in Industrial Pharmaceutics from the Pharmaceutical University of Kharkiv, Ukraine, a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Lviv Polytechnic University, Ukraine, and a certificate in Business Communication from Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. He has 8 patents and over 40 publications, presentations, and textbooks.