Glowforge, the Seattle-based 3D laser printer company, announced new additions to its board of directors and senior leadership team as it finishes another record year. The company welcomes Dr. Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College and renowned computer scientist. She joins as the newest independent director to the Glowforge board, joining board member Brad Feld of Foundry Group. Additionally, Glowforge has rounded out the senior leadership team with a number of new appointments, including Renuka Ayer as chief financial officer and Nate Kelly as chief operating officer.
“I’m incredibly honored that Dr. Maria Klawe has joined our board,” said Dan Shapiro, CEO and founder of Glowforge. “First, she’s a pioneering researcher in the areas of theoretical computer science and human-computer interaction. Then, she’s served on the boards of Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft and Broadcom. Finally, and closest to my heart, she’s transformed my alma mater, Harvey Mudd College, into not only the best undergraduate engineering school, but one nationally recognized for its diversity of new graduates. Coming off of a year of threefold growth at Glowforge, her vision and experience will help us continue to delight our customers and take care of our team.”
“My passion is to diversify science and engineering and improve society as a result,” said Dr. Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College. “I’m thrilled to be joining the board of a startup that holds these same values and continues to push for diversity and inclusion in tech. But there’s still work to be done to equal the playing field, and I’m excited to be a part of a company that is trying to do just that while changing people’s lives with their technology along the way.”
Glowforge also recently added two key executive hires with critical experience. CFO Renuka Ayer comes to Glowforge bringing her experience in finance from GE and Ford, while COO Nate Kelley joins with history at Facebook and Tesla. These appointments follow eight consecutive quarters of double-digit sales growth.
Today, tens of thousands of Glowforge printers can be found in homes, schools, makerspaces, and businesses. They are used constantly, with most printers – even the first units made – printing every month. To date, customers worldwide have created more than five million prints and counting.
To learn more, visit glowforge.com or click here to watch a video. To see what customers are making with Glowforge, search #Glowforge on Instagram or click here.
ABOUT DR. MARIA KLAWE
Klawe became Harvey Mudd College’s fifth president in 2006. A renowned computer scientist and scholar, she is the first woman to lead the college. Klawe is a North American expert on diversity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics; gender; and gaming, utilizing lessons from her own career in STEM industry and education. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, she was ranked 17th on Fortune’s 2014 list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders and was inducted into the US News STEM Solutions Leadership Hall of Fame.
Klawe is on the boards of the Alliance for Southern California Innovation and the nonprofits Math for America and EdReports.org. She has previously served on the boards of Microsoft and Broadcom. She was previously dean of engineering and professor of computer science at Princeton University and dean of science, vice president of student and academic services, and head of the computer science department at the University of British Columbia. Klawe spent eight years with IBM Research in California and two years at the University of Toronto. She received a PhD and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Alberta.
ABOUT GLOWFORGE
Glowforge is a Seattle-based startup that created the 3D laser printer. Glowforge’s wireless desktop laser makes it simple for designers, artists, and makers to take products directly from digital design to reality. Unlike 3D printers that use additive technology to build objects out of plastic, Glowforge uses subtractive technology to cut and engrave products from durable and beautiful materials like wood, leather, acrylic, paper, fabric – even chocolate. A sleek and efficient design makes this industrial-grade technology beautiful and affordable, and a friendly cloud-based app makes it easy to create amazing things with Glowforge. For more information, please visit Glowforge.com.
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