The Team Behind Launch Pad
We built Launch Pad because we kept seeing the same gap…smart, capable kids who froze when it mattered. Not because they weren't ready academically. Because no one had ever coached them on how to communicate. We built the program we wished had existed when our own kids needed it.
Russ has spent 36 years building one thing: the ability to help people show up better in the moments that matter.
Across multiple industries he has led sales teams, coached professionals, worked with business leaders, and helped people learn how to communicate with confidence and presence.
For more than a decade he has worked as a professional facilitator, teaching communication, leadership, and people skills in a way that is practical, hands-on, and immediately usable.
His style is not lecture-heavy. It is interactive, high-energy, and built around real practice. Students don't just hear what to do; they do it, get coached, and do it again until it sticks.
Russ believes teens don't need to be fixed. They need to be coached, encouraged, and given real chances to practice. As a father of three grown daughters, he understands both sides of that moment — the parent hoping their teen is ready, and the teen trying to find their voice.
Co-Founder · Lead Instructor · CurriculumRuss Burch
Christie started her career at KPMG and spent the last 20 years as an entrepreneur and consultant, walking into industries she'd never worked in, asking the right questions, and figuring it out.
She holds degrees in Accounting and International Business from UT Austin and spent her junior year of high school living in France, where she first developed the belief that everything is figureoutable.
At Launch Pad, Christie owns the parent experience from first inquiry through graduation, enrollment, communication, and every question in between. If a parent reaches out, Christie responds personally, usually the same day.
She's a mom to three young adults, which means she's not just running the operational side of Launch Pad. She has lived the parent side of it too.
Co-Founder · Family Experience · OperationsChristie Varner
George created Launch Pad because of what he has watched happen to young people trying to enter the professional world…smart, qualified, and completely unprepared for the human side of it.
He brings 25 years in commercial real estate and financial analytics, having led teams managing hundreds of millions in capital across private equity, public development, and family office investing.
He holds an MBA from UT Austin and is the founder of RE Analytics, a financial analytics platform serving the commercial real estate industry.
For the last five years, George has mentored students through Penn State's Architectural Engineering Mentorship Program, guiding them through academic rigor and job placement.
His first mentee is now a co-mentor, helping the next generation through the same process. That kind of long-arc commitment to young people is exactly why he is the right person to help build Launch Pad.
George Burchlaw
Co-Founder · Growth · SystemsWhy We Built This
We didn't set out to build a business.
We set out to fix a problem we kept seeing in our own community,
including in the lives of the kids closest to us.
By the time juniors and seniors are facing college interviews,
scholarship conversations, and real interactions with adults who
matter, most of them have never been coached on how to
handle those moments.
Schools focus on academics.
Sports build different muscles.
Tutoring helps with grades, not presence.
Launch Pad is the program we wished existed for the
young adults we love.
Now that we've built it, we'd be honored to put it to work for yours.