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Comprehensive solutions for
life science innovators

about us

Accelerating actionable solutions for
transformative medical innovation

Accelerating actionable solutions for transformative medical innovation

Blue Wellington is a medical technology accelerator. We are committed to developing and leveraging the latest in technology developments and business expertise to provide the healthcare community with actionable solutions and enablement tools that improve patient care and outcomes. Blue Wellington is cooperating directly with leading academic institutions commercializing transformative medical innovation.

market strategy

Providing actionable solutions for
transformative medical innovation

Providing actionable solutions for transformative medical innovation

Blue Wellington serves as a holding company for direct investments in early-stage healthcare focused life science companies and technology. We bring an exceptional team, network and resources to help nurture and guide nascent ideas to market.

WHAT WE PROVIDE

A team of accomplished and dedicated professionals across all business functions

A world class network of subject matter experts

Financial, operational, and legal resources

Broad experience in capital markets

Our expectations from partners are alignment of values, commitment to excellence, and transformative technology that provides actionable insights and tools to improve patient care and outcomes.

leadership

Keith Knutsson

– Founder CEO and
Medtech Innovator

Keith Knutsson

– Founder CEO and
Medtech Innovator

Reid Maclellan, MD

– President and COO

Reid Maclellan, MD

– President and COO

Simmy Pappachen

– Chief of Staff

Simmy Pappachen

– Chief of Staff

advisors

Dr. Jack Bierly, MD

– Aesthetics, Strategic
Investor Relations, Clinician
Relationships and Research

Gary Cantrell

– Healthcare Technology,
Engineering, Design &
Manufacturing

Brad Fernald

– Medical Device Expert,
Healthcare Technology

Chris Hughes

– Medical Technology,
FDA Regulations &
Compliance

Richard Pines

– Capital Formation,
Strategic Capital Structuring,
Business Development

Dain Syverson

–President & Founder of The Syverson Group

Reach out to us.

Partner. Collaborate. Accelerate.

Contact us

BLUE WELLINGTON
3460 Preston Ridge Rd | Suite 150 |
Alpharetta, GA 30005

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Keith Knutsson
– Founder CEO and
Medtech Innovator

Keith Knutsson is the founder and CEO of Blue Wellington, LLC a life science and medical technology accelerator. Blue Wellington cooperates directly with leading academic institutions commercializing transformative medical innovation. As CEO, Keith is responsible for developing and commercializing proprietary technology bringing the people, capital, and vision together.


Keith has created the vision that has brought the people and capital together for Blue Wellington, establishing and developing relationships with doctors, researchers, scientists, and engineers on the development side as well as managing operations, sales/marketing, forecasting commercial opportunities, and relationships with the financial community. To that end, he oversees a team bringing companies from an early stage to an exit – early stage, growth, enhanced efficiency that manages multiple key channels e.g. R&D, operations (production, supply chains, etc), go-to-market requirements, and regulatory compliance. His partnership approach creates value for all stakeholders.


Prior to Blue Wellington, Keith was a serial entrepreneur with 25 years of operations and financial management experience in family businesses. He assisted the founders of Dollar Rent A Car in the valuation and negotiation of the sale of the company to the Chrysler Corporation. Through Keith Knutsson’s strategic advisory role, he advised UK management in the development of the Eurodollar Rent A Car network. (Europe’s largest privately held car rental company) Keith has served at an executive level in the family office, private equity, and institutional settings, primarily focused on the service industry and real estate industries in the U.S. and Europe, competing transactions over $3.2 billion. This experience includes direct consolidation on multi-unit service companies, such as rental cars and self-storage on a global basis.


Keith Knutsson has lectured and mentored students at numerous universities including INSEAD, Harvard Business School, Emory University, and UCLA Anderson School of Management. He received a Bachelor’s degree in business with honors from Emory University and an MBA from Columbia University and INSEAD with honors.

Reid Maclellan, MD
– President and COO

Dr. Reid Maclellan, M.D. is the Founder and CEO of Cortina Health, Inc, an artificial intelligence company with a mission to restore the care in healthcare and improve quality of life for both patients and physicians. Reid is also an Instructor of Surgery at both Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, where he practices and teaches translational medical research. As a key opinion leader in the fields of healthcare technology, vascular anomalies, and lymphedema, he frequently is invited to lecture both nationally and internationally.

Dr. Maclellan completed a general surgery internship at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga. He then completed plastic surgery clinical and research fellowships at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He received his M.D. from the University of Alabama School of Medicine and a post-doctoral Master in Medical Sciences Degree in translational medical research from Harvard Medical School.

Simmy Pappachen
– Chief of Staff

Simmy is the Chief of Staff for Blue Wellington’s Leadership Team. She is responsible for planning and directing all administrative, financial, and operational activities. Simmy organizes and prioritizes critical issues and required information for the executive team to facilitate efficient decision making.

Simmy has a BBA in Management from Berkeley College.

Dr. Jack Bierly, MD
– Aesthetics, Strategic
Investor Relations, Clinician
Relationships and Research

John (Jack) Bierly, MD has a diverse background in both healthcare and real estate development. Dr. Bierly founded both the Southeast Eye Specialist (SEES Group) and Scenic Land Companies. Dr. Bierly has extensive experience in the de-novo start-up of ophthalmic surgery centers as well as medical office buildings.

He has also been a founding partner in Southeast Medical Properties, Surgery Center of Athens, Eye Surgery Center of Chattanooga, and Southeast Eye Surgery Center of Knoxville. He is a general partner and board member in Scenic Land Investment Management as well as Scenic Land Company, and Scenic Land Development. He has been intimately involved in the rebranding of Canyon Ridge Resort to Mclemore Resort, and has helped guide the development of the clubhouse, a new 245 key Hilton Curio Collection Canyon Cloud Hotel (scheduled to open in February 2024) and the building of a new golf course, the Outpost (scheduled summer of 2024). The Course at Mclemore has the distinction of winning the best 18th hole for Golf Digest in 2020 and shares this award with Pebble Beach (1980) and Harbour Town Links (2000). In 2017, he helped lead his company to a recapitalization with a private equity company, Flexpoint Ford.

He is currently the President of Southeast Eye Specialists (SEES), and serves on the SEES Group Board since 2017 as well as Scenic Land Companies Boards. He holds a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University, an M.D. from Weill Cornell Medical College, and an M.B.A. from Emory University.

Gary Cantrell
– Healthcare Technology,
Engineering, Design &
Manufacturing

Gary Cantrell brings more than 25 years as an information technology executive. Gary served as Global CIO of Jabil, a leading provider of design engineering and manufacturing solutions to numerous industries including healthcare with 260,000 employees in 30 countries. As CIO, he partnered with business leaders to improve operational efficiency, transition to cloud-based solutions and digital transformation. Previously, Gary served as CIO of Textron, a global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses providing innovative solutions. Gary led Global IT, risk and supply chain management encompassing $500M annual investment. He has a B.S. and M.B.A. from the University of Dayton has completed Executive education at Wharton, and Advanced Analytics at University of South Florida.

Brad Fernald
– Medical Device Expert,
Healthcare Technology

Brad Fernald is a distinguished medical device executive with a passion and proven track record of launching disruptive and innovative startup companies and technologies in the medical field. As the US President of Omniscient Neurotechnology, Brad is currently leading the charge in using AI and machine learning to revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases by leveraging brain data. Before joining Omniscient Neurotechnology, Brad held a senior executive role at Synaptive Medical, where he oversaw the development of commercial and product strategies for their surgical robotics and imaging businesses. To date, Synaptive has raised over $253M in funding. Prior to Synaptive, Brad spearheaded the development of key clinical applications and commercial strategies of an MRI- guided laser ablation technology for Visualase, a Houston-based startup, which was later acquired by Medtronic for $105M at over 10x equity invested. Brad holds a degree in Mathematics from the University of Florida and a graduate degree in Biomedical Engineering from Florida International University.

Chris Hughes
– Medical Technology,
FDA Regulations & Compliance

Chris Hughes has been in the medical device industry for 30 years. He founded and is the President & CEO of OsteoRemedies®, LLC. Chris has led this company with a vision to be the premier choice for surgeons by providing simple solutions to complex disorders focused on revision and infection remedies. He has held various leadership roles throughout his career starting with 4 years of active duty as a Captain, in the United States Army. Since 1993, he has been in the medical device industry in sales, marketing, business development, and executive management. Chris held many executive roles at Medtronic Spine & Biologics before his tenure as President of Paradigm Spine, LLC, and then President of CMS, LLC, a medical device distribution entity. Chris earned his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Tampa and a Master of Business Administration degree from Chaminade University. Chris furthered his Executive Education by attending courses at The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. Over his career, Chris has held several appointments as a board member and volunteer, including Co-Chair of the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation of New York City and Board Chairman of One Family Memphis / Memphis Rox.

Richard Pines
– Capital Formation,
Strategic Capital Structuring,
Business Development

Richard Pines founded Structured Alpha Solutions LLC in 2019 to help innovative healthcare companies accelerate the growth of their businesses and achieve their financial and operational objectives. To date, Structured Alpha Solutions has been hired by both public and private healthcare companies. Previously, Richard Pines co- founded Athyrium in 2008 and served as a Partner and member of the investment committee, helping to raise ~$3.7B of AUM across three funds in less than a decade. Mr. Pines sourced and identified attractive investment opportunities through his deep network of contacts within the healthcare industry. During his time at Athyrium, Mr. Pines was the sole partner on the following healthcare investments: Paradigm Spine (Acquired), BioFire Diagnostics (Acquired), Verenium (Acquired), Universal Biosensors (technology acquisition), Retrophin, Synarc-Biocore (Acquired), Apollo Endosurgery, Cipher Pharmaceuticals, Medicrea (Acquired), HLS Therapeutics, Recro Pharma and Veloxis (Acquired).

Dain Syverson
– President & Founder of
The Syverson Group

Dain Syverson is a Los Angeles native and now based in Atlanta, Dain is the President & Founder of The Syverson Group, LLC (TSG). He serves as the primary search executive engaging with clients in the Diagnostics, Medical Device, Medical Products, Biotechnology, Life Sciences, Pharmaceutical, Dental and Medical Distribution sectors. Dain’s clients include Fortune 500, high growth mid-cap, privately held, private equity group and venture capital-backed firms with focus on Board members; C level; Divisional President and General Management; Vice President and Director Level responsibilities.
 
Dain’s unique combination of recent business and relevant market experience, key relationships within the industry, ability to assess and attract interest of top executive talent and negotiate mutually acceptable terms & conditions for TSG clients and candidates is unrivaled in the talent acquisition industry.
 
Prior to founding TSG, Dain served as an Executive Vice President & Partner for over 10 years at a start up search firm where he served as an Officer of the company, led the organization into numerous new verticals, was personally consistently ranked in the Top 1% nationally, built a successful Retained Search offering and developed a reputation in the talent acquisition market for high integrity & authenticity, transparency, tireless work ethic and exceptional performance.
 
Prior to his talent acquisition start up experience, Dain’s corporate background consisted of over 13 years with Abbott Labs, Diagnostics Division inclusive of executive level responsibilities in General Management, Global & Tactical Marketing, Corporate Accounts, Sales & Sales Management and International Operations. During Dain’s corporate career, he was promoted to increased scopes of responsibility ten (10) times and relocated on seven (7) occasions throughout the U.S. and Europe.
 
Prior to his medical career, Dain attended Oregon State University on a baseball scholarship, was drafted out of college and played professional baseball in the Cleveland Indians organization retiring after sustaining an injury in AAA Buffalo, NY.
 
Dain holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration & Finance from Oregon State University and has taken advanced courses at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. Dain is active in coaching youth sports, various local ministries & charities and an avid outdoorsman and fitness participant. Dain has two daughters and resides in a northern suburb of Atlanta, Georgia.