State Has its Game Face On for Building New Industry

The Oregon UAS Accelerator, announced the installation of Joseph Wyno as its new executive director, noting that he took office from the interim director on April 15th to train into the role.

Wyno will see the state's "only Center of Innovation Excellence dedicated exclusively to unmanned aircraft systems and robotics" through the coming years, drawing on his resume of business and entrepreneurial work in years past. Wyno got his start more than 25 years ago, working his way up to a position as a senior advisor and director for Octane's LaunchPad SBDC Accelerator. While there, Wyno helped raise $230 million in funding by "developing teams that precisely address their business needs and capital objectives." The Oregon UAS Accelerator notes that his recent efforts have led to the creation of "over 5,000 high-paying jobs" for the local community in 2022 alone. As such, it makes sense why they'd install Wyno to lead the program, given his strengths in consulting, resource allocation, and programming support to up-and-coming drone startups in the local region.

“With a track record of success as both an entrepreneurial startup leader and multinational corporate executive, Joseph's professional background is a great fit to launch the Oregon UAS Accelerator,” said Tom Perkowski, Accelerator Interim Executive Director. “With his deep accelerator experience and knowledge of raising capital, our innovators will have a unique experience in both testing their innovations at the Pendleton UAS Range and learning how to grow a business from one of the best.”

"The Oregon UAS Accelerator represents a strategic initiative to harness Oregon's competitive advantages and propel the state to the forefront of UAS development in the United States," said Steve Chrisman, Economic Development & Airport Director. "Joseph will offer our innovators incredible support to accelerate their commercialization process.”

FMI: www.pendletonuasrange.com