Carbon, the 3D printing company, has appointed Ellen Kullman as the lead independent director of its board of directors and Deborah Messemer to the board. It also promoted Elisa de Martel to CFO.
Kullman, the chair and CEO of Dupont from January 2009 to October 2015, joined Carbon’s board in April 2016. She guided Dupont through the financial crisis of 2008 by moving the company out of commoditized businesses and establishing it as a market-driven science company. She also co-chairs Paradigm for Parity, a coalition of business leaders dedicated to addressing the corporate leadership gender gap.
Kullman is also on the boards United Technologies Corporation, Dell Technologies, Amgen, and Goldman Sachs. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. She holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts and an M.S. in Management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
“I am very much looking forward to continuing to work with this dynamic, deeply invested team as we embark on Carbon’s next chapter,” Kullman said in a statement from Carbon.
She cited the company’s hybrid-SaaS business model as a “powerful new entry in the connected-products business world,” The SaaS will add “long-term revenue predictability” to the company, which also offers hardware subscriptions, cloud-based software updates and resin sales, Kullman said. Large-scale manufacturing systems will enable Carbon “the opportunity to scale at unprecedented speed,” she added.
Messemer brings financial, operational and market development experience from multiple industries and will chair Carbon’s newly formed audit committee. She was managing partner of KPMG’s Bay Area and Northwest region until her retirement in September of 2018, leading more than 3,000 team members in 10 offices across all functions, including audit, tax and advisory.
Messemer also worked as an audit engagement partner serving public and private company clients in a variety of industries. She has experience in SEC filings, due diligence, initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and internal controls over financial reporting. Messemer also sits on the board of directors of Allogene Therapeutics (NSDQ:ALLO) and has served on several non-profit and advisory boards.
Messemer said she looks forward to contributing to the company’s growth and market leadership across industry sectors.
“The era of digital manufacturing is here, delivering digital design and fabrication, QA/QC and end-to-end, data-centric production solutions,” she added. “Carbon is uniquely poised to be one of the most significant manufacturing innovators of our day.”
De Martel joined Carbon in February 2018 as VP of finance, responsible for Carbon’s financial activities and global finance organization, including accounting and controllership, financial planning and analysis, reporting, tax, treasury and investor relations. She brings extensive experience in managing global financial planning analytics and operations for manufacturing and technology companies.
De Martel worked in a number of financial roles at Apple Inc. for 11 years, most recently as director of manufacturing finance. Before working or Apple, she was a finance manager with Citroen UK and a supervisor at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
“These strategic updates to Carbon’s board and executive team strengthen our corporate governance and are in line with our maturing as a company,” said Joseph DeSimone, Carbon’s CEO and co-founder, in the statement. “Ellen, Debbie and Elisa are extraordinary executives with histories of strong leadership and business acumen, and the deep experience each of them brings is invaluable to the continued growth and success for Carbon.”
Last month, Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) began producing parts based on Carbon’s digital light synthesis technology. Carbon also recently said it has rapidly grown its Carbon Production Network to more than 20 companies after adding a host of injection molders and urethane casters. New additions include Bright Plastics, Dependable Plastics, Diversified Plastics Inc., Element Packaging, Gallagher Corporation, Nicolet Plastics, Prattville Machine & Tool, and Resolution Medical.
In September, Resolution Medical became Carbon’s first Midwest production partner solely focused on medical devices. Earlier this year, Carbon partnered with Dentca and Dreve to make 3D printed dentures and gingiva masks and trays.
