3D printing marketplace and service bureau Shapeways has officially announced the appointment of Gregory Kress as the company’s new CEO.
Former CEO Peter Weijmarshausen, and co-founder of Shapeways, stepped down from the position in August 2017. In the interim, the company’s COO Tom Finn had been acting CEO.
“While excited about how far we’ve come,” says Kress, “I look forward to accelerating Shapeways’ vision to become the complete end-to-end platform helping people, ‘design, make, and sell,’ regardless of their 3D modeling experience.”
The future of Shapeways
Kress joins Shapeways after leading a strategic and financial expansion of e-learning company Open English, and 11 years in senior Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain and Manufacturing roles at GE. At GE, Kress was part of the company’s Operations Management Leadership Program, and graduated from a position as Corporate Leadership staff at GE Transportation in 2011.
Experience and “deep knowledge” in “growing platform businesses” is, according to s Albert Wenger, Managing Partner at Shapeways investor Union Square Ventures, what makes Kress and asset to the company’s future development.
Lateral and vertical expansion
With the appointment of Kress, Shapeways plans to introduce new lateral and vertical user-led services.
Having collected millions of data points from its base of over 1 million community members and the 185,000+ products 3D printed and shipped by the service every month, the company intends to “expand its end-to-end services” under the design, make and sell ethos, and introduce “production services beyond 3D printing.”
“We know people have ideas or want products that can be made and sold thanks to advanced design, production, and fulfillment technology” explains Wenger of Union Square Ventures, “but most of them don’t know where to begin.”
“Without proper support or infrastructure, the entire process seems inaccessible, complicated, intimidating, and expensive.”
Design it, 3D print it, sell it
Shapeways currently has customers spanning 140 countries, and employs 250 people at base locations in New York, Eindhoven and Seattle.
Its 3D printing manufacturing services allow the use of more than 60 materials, with metallic finishes suited to jewelry, tech, games miniatures and more.
The site has also been a prominent voice in the recent debate concerning ISP data control, arguing pro net neutrality for the 3D printing community.
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Featured image shows Gregory Kress, CEO of Shapeways. Photo via Shapeways
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