Last September, the face of MakerBot, former CEO Bre Pettis, left the start-up he had started up to join MakerBot’s new parent company, Stratasys, where he founded Bold Machines, an “Innovation Workshop” meant to connect 3D printing artists, engineers, and other innovators with Stratasys’ 3D printing technology and expertise. Replacing Pettis was Jenny Lawton, the company’s former president. Now, just five months later, Stratasys has announced that Lawton will already be leaving the position of acting-CEO to join Stratasys’ management team, as well.
As Lawton leaves MakerBot to become executive vice president Special Projects for Stratasys, where she will report to Stratasys CEO David Reis, Jonathan Jaglom, general manager from Stratasys Asia Pacific Japan, will step in as CEO of MakerBot. Reis suggested that, since 2011, Lawton has been a key asset in growing MakerBot from 40 to more than 600 employees and expanding the company’s offerings and retail locations. In her new position, she will, according to Stratasys, “focus on the disruptive effects of 3D printing and the role of women in technology.” She will also continue to give keynote speeches, including a talk at the upcoming 3D Print Design Week in New York.
Jaglom, recently interviewed by 3DPI at Inside in Singapore, leaves his position as the general manager of Stratasys Asia Pacific Japan. Jaglom joined the company in 2005, at Objet, where he had acted, at various times, as the regional manager of East Europe, business manager of Objet customer support, and the vice president of the company’s Global Sales Operations division. More can be gleamed about Jaglom from his interview with 3DPI, where he emphasized Stratasys’ goal to educate users on how to best utilize 3D printing, telling 3DPI’s Phillip Keane, “One of the ways that we are teaching optimization is through building up a community, and that’s a big change at Stratasys. If you think about the MakerBot acquisition and Thingiverse… to truly understand MakerBot is to understand Thingiverse. With its close to 300,000 files online, with 1,000,000 downloads per month (and growing), the Thingiverse Community is second to none within the industry. If you think of the volume of people who are buying into that community and tapping those resources… That’s tremendous value.” Jaglom also gave a TED Talk on 3D printing that can further elucidate his point of view:
CEO Reis said of the shift in management, “We see these organizational moves as part of the continued scaling and integration of MakerBot. Leading the new product category of desktop 3D printing, MakerBot has experienced significant growth since inception, with sales expanding by more than 600 percent from 2012 to 2014. MakerBot has sold more than 80,000 units to date, while developing a significant brand. Jonathan Jaglom is bringing 10 years of experience as a key contributor to the outstanding performance and scaling of operations at Objet and then Stratasys and we believe he will be well-positioned to help MakerBot scale both operations and revenues. As a leader in the 3D printing industry, we intend to build on our strong track record of execution and integration following our mergers. MakerBot is part of that integration and we are very excited to nurture the unique opportunity for growth in the desktop 3D printing industry with MakerBot’s leadership position.”
When Bre left, I was personally surprised by the move, but one industry insider suggested to me that such managerial changes are pretty common when a company is acquired and that a President (or COO) is brought in and the original leader is moved into the role of a figurehead position. Some in the comments of the original Bre article believed it to be a good move, representing a synthesis of companies and the introduction of more experienced management into the MakerBot subsidiary. It’s possible that all of this may be said of the new move with Lawton and Jaglom, as well.
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