Board

John Hedengren leads the Roadrunner Junior Club and serves as a mentor and coach for many of the athletes in the program. Professionally, John is a professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at Brigham Young University, where he teaches and conducts research in modeling, optimization, and machine learning. Through the Roadrunner Junior Club, he is passionate about giving back to the next generation by creating opportunities for young athletes to grow in sport, character, and community with the support of parents and volunteer coaches.

Christopher Kuchin is a head coach with the Roadrunner Junior Club and an avid runner who enjoys helping young athletes discover the joy of running and personal improvement through sport. Professionally, Christopher is a Principal Site Reliability Engineer at Route, where he works on building and maintaining large-scale technology systems. He has extensive experience in software engineering, DevOps practices, and infrastructure automation. Prior to Route, he worked in engineering leadership roles at companies including Qualtrics and NeuroID (Experian), helping teams scale complex data systems and production platforms. Christopher is Affiliate Faculty Member at Brigham Young University. His technical expertise and problem-solving mindset bring valuable perspective to the club’s operations and growth.

Justin King is a business valuation and advisory expert and an enthusiastic supporter of youth athletics. He currently serves as Managing Director at Vista Peak, providing valuation and advisory services related to ESOPs, transactions, and corporate finance. With nearly two decades of experience advising privately held companies, Justin has built a career focused on financial strategy, business valuation, and advisory services for complex transactions and ownership structures. Earlier in his career he led the ESOP valuation and advisory practice at Ryan, where he helped guide valuation strategy and technical standards for the firm. Justin earned both his Bachelor’s degree in Finance and MBA from Brigham Young University. Outside of his professional work, he is passionate about trail running and endurance sports, and enjoys supporting the Roadrunner Junior Club in helping young athletes pursue their goals.

Paul Thayer brings extensive leadership experience in the energy industry and strategic business management. He currently serves as Managing Partner at Heal Capital. Prior to this role, Paul was Chief Operating Officer at Ensign Natural Resources, where he oversaw operations and strategic development. Earlier in his career he held several leadership positions at Murphy Oil, including General Manager of U.S. Onshore Engineering and General Manager of North America Offshore Operations. He began his career as a Reservoir Engineer at ExxonMobil, working on major energy projects across North America. Paul earned a degree in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University. His experience in engineering, operations leadership, and organizational strategy helps guide the club’s long-term growth and sustainability.