In December last year, Women in 3D Printing (WI3DP) announced that Kristin Mulherin would be taking over as president, replacing Nora Touré, founder of the organisation.
Kirstin has spent over seven years in the additive manufacturing (AM) industry and has been a WI3DP board member for several years.
She started out her AM career at LPW Carpenter Additive and has also worked for the likes of Thermo Fisher Scientific and Dyndrite, where she has gained experience in a variety of different leadership roles.
This week, TCT sat down with Kristin to speak about her new role at WI3DP, her plans for the future, her views on the issues surrounding diversity and gender inclusion in the industry, and much more.
Kristin told TCT: “I was on the board of directors for two years leading up to this and so, it was kind of a natural progression. Nora and I have always worked really well together and so it made sense for us to start to work together a bit more in the leadership capacity.
“It was really an honour to get the role because I was selected by the board members, and I have a huge amount of respect and love for them. I didn't even view it as a choice to be made because it’s something that is such a privilege to be given and I feel that I'm in a place in my career where I could share a lot of my experiences and help Nora grow it to the next level, so it was also a logical transition.
“The 3D printing industry has exploded over the last few years and what both Nora and I want to do is bring a bit more structure so that it remains sustainable. We have over 80 chapters in 36 countries, spread over six continents and what I also want to do is start bringing all those chapters together and utilise the strengths from different regions because right now it's a bit North American centric and we want to try to bring a lot more of the chapters into the fold.”
Women in 3D Printing - which was founded in 2014 - is a non-profit organisation that was set up to promote and tackle the issues surrounding diversity in the AM industry. Initially the organisation was set up as a weekly blog featuring different women in the industry, but it has since grown in popularity and now has over 23,000 members. It also hosts a series of different events including the TIPE Women in 3D Printing Press Conference.
Kristin spoke about the importance of the organisation and how it can help close the gender-gap in AM, saying: “I think it's going to be a long process to close the gap and it’s not going to happen overnight. What we need to focus on is where the interest begins, which is when women are in school and can be encouraged to go in different directions because it’s about getting them exposed to it and showing them the various roles that they could do within 3D printing or manufacturing in general. So, it's going to be a long process, but I believe WI3DP have given a lot more visibility to the issue and to the existing women in the industry.”
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Alongside her newest position at WI3DP, Kristin has also recently been announced as one of the newest members of Nexa3D’s leadership team, taking on the role of General Manager of its newly created Powdered Products unit.
It was an honour to get the role. I feel that I'm in a place in my career where I could share a lot of my experiences.
Nexa3D, a manufacturer of resin and powder 3D polymer printers, revealed its newest leadership members at the start of the month to help support its growth in the market.
Kristin told us more about her new role and why she joined, adding: “One of the main reasons I joined is that I really enjoy and want to be part of a high growth, fast paced environment and I've always gravitated towards smaller companies and start-ups. Nexa3D also has three different product lines, but they're all focused on speed and printing parts fast which facilitates production scale printing and that's where my interest lies.
“Nexa3D is very progressive and one of the other women on the board, Sarah Goehrke, is also one of the board members at WI3DP, and she's actually heading up the WI3DP DEI initiatives internally. Avi [Reichental], the CEO of Nexa, has also been very vocal about how the DEI initiatives are very important and I think his driving incentives are very much heavily rooted in diversity as well as sustainability, so that was also a very attractive aspect of the company for me.”
Nexa3D
Nexa3D machine portfolio.
In the closing remarks of the interview, we asked Kristin what advice she would provide to people looking to start out in the industry. She said: “I think right now, the industry is hiring like crazy and the opportunities in this industry are enormous. But I think one of the key things to do is have as many conversations as possible with people in the industry and, with regards to Women in 3D Printing, attending some events, listen and learn. Everybody that attends events are usually very open to talking about what their history is and giving advice and even I still do this to progress.”
Kristin is currently helping Nexa3D prepare for the launch of their newest product, the QLS Printer, which is due to hit the market this summer, while also supporting WI3DP in the launch of its DEI initiatives which will help companies implement more diversity into their workplaces.
