After rumors began to fly surrounding Bre Pettis stepping down from his position as CEO of MakerBot, we checked in with the company to find out their context. Though the founder of the desktop 3D printer manufacturer, purchased by Stratasys last summer, will be moving on from his role as the company’s Chief Executive Officer, the move is part of an overall shift in management for the company.
As it turns out, Pettis will me moving from the subsidiary to Stratasys itself, where he, according to Stratasys CEO, David Reis, will have more control over guiding MakerBot’s vision. Pettis will also be a member of MakerBot’s Board of Directors. To replace him, the company’s president, Jenny Lawton, has stepped up as CEO. The entire management team has then shifted upwards, as you’ll note in the Stratasys CEO’s comment below:
Stratasys and MakerBot are excited to announce some management changes at MakerBot that will take effect in the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2014 and into January 2015. Most notably, Bre Pettis will be transitioning from the day-to-day activities of management to a position with Stratasys where he will be able to influence and direct the vision of MakerBot and Stratasys; he will also be a member of the MakerBot Board of Directors. Jenny Lawton, president of MakerBot, will be promoted to the role of CEO of MakerBot; Frank Alfano is being moved from chief revenue officer to president. Aric Jennings, chief operations officer for MakerBot, will also transition into the international role of vice president of global manufacturing for Stratasys. We are excited about these promotions and pleased to continue the positive momentum that Stratasys and MakerBot have experienced and achieved.
Though the rumors seem justified to some extent, the Stratasys head makes it sound as though Bre’s new role will give him greater control over the direction of the company. What sort of control this means exactly is still unclear. And, whether or not Bre will still be the company’s mascot hasn’t been made evident either. Hopefully, the public will know more soon!
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
When the role of CEO isn’t big enough… 😛
Sounds like a demotion to me – now he’s lost within the hierarchy along with all the other execs. Looks like they needed a more experienced CEO to run MakerBot. End of an era.
This is the end of makerbot.
Corporate musical chairs. Amusing.
(I’d also say the end of MakerBot came before, last summer, when it abdicated the ideals of RepRap, forced out internal dissent, and sold the non-commercial contributions of its users. Now it not only benefits from appropriating the work that came out of the community supporting it, but also a large war chest of patents from Strata.)
It may be time for Bre to update his resume (proverbially, of course).
The news about Bre broke while I was at the 3D Printshow. I was actually with European representatives of Stratasys when it happened — suffice to say, that was not how it was supposed to go. I got caught up in the whirlwind of it for a little while. It spread across the show floor like wild fire and needless to say there was a multitude of opinions on the
subject. I heard many wildly contrasting views, but a couple of more considered
insights pulled me up short.
This is one man, who had a vision, with some friends, like many in
the 3D printing industry; and he was hugely successful, more than most, and
perhaps even became a victim of his own success that pulled him in originally unforeseen directions and lost him some friends along the way. In some respects he bore the weight of a whole industry on his shoulders for a while — in part self-inflicted, in part as the result of
external influences, and I, among others, am not innocent in that respect. I
get the impression he is exhausted and that taking a step back / sideways / up
/ away, whether of his own volition or otherwise — however you want to see it —
this move may just provide a way for him to re-find some perspective. I wish
him only the best.
Not knowing much about the people or the technology, as shareholder and retired financial advisor, I believe this all makes sense.
The fact that the rest of the MakerBot hierarchy is moving up, shows that they, at least in Stratasys’ mind, makes sense. So far, the overall strategy of the two companies–joined and yet operating independently–seems to be working.
This is why many brilliant, PRINCIPLED, people never want to share their creative ideas or inventions.