Blake is the chief executive officer of Essentium, Inc., where he is responsible for managing the company’s fast-growing business across the world. Essentium is pioneering multiple 3D printing technologies that remove the current limitations surrounding additive manufacturing, allowing factory floors everywhere to be transformed.

In his role as CEO, Blake’s strategy is focused on innovation in both materials and production platforms, disrupting traditional manufacturing processes by bringing strength and speed together, at scale, with a no-compromise material set. Blake’s team delivers industrial solutions for the world’s top manufacturers enabling them to shift the role of additive manufacturing from prototyping to full scale production. Under Blake’s leadership, Essentium raised $22.2M in Series A funding, one of the largest A-rounds in the history of additive manufacturing. Prior to his role at Essentium, Inc., he was co-founder and CTO at a predicate company, Essentium Materials, which was awarded the SME Innovation Grand Prize in 2016 for its unique electromagnetic welding technology, which is currently scaling.

In addition to co-founding Essentium Materials in 2013, Blake co-founded TriFusion Devices, a 3D printed medical device venture aimed at custom, high-strength applications in the biomedical and sporting goods industries. Since inception, TriFusion has printed and shipped more than 2,000 bespoke medical devices to clinicians across North America.

Prior to Essentium, Blake was a senior engineer at Caterpillar Global Work Tools and Services where he helped develop Hydraulic Hammers which were manufactured in Waco, TX and sold worldwide. Blake also had a short stint at John Deere Power Systems where he worked as an engine engineer with design responsibility for sub-systems for iT4 off-highway diesel engines.

Blake holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Texas A&M University and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University. Blake holds several pending and awarded patents and has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles. In his free time, he enjoys wood working, golf, and spending time with his family.

Elisa Teipel is the chief technology officer of Essentium, Inc. Elisa is responsible for customer-centric innovation by leading cross-functional engineering teams for new products and services to digitally transform businesses and disrupt the traditional manufacturing market.

In her role as CTO, Elisa is focused on new technologies to enable complete and no comprise 3D printing solutions that remove the barriers of speed, strength, and scale to accelerate industrial scale additive manufacturing.

Elisa brings more than a decade of experience in materials innovation and has secured millions of dollars of funded research to advance materials development for the industry. As Essentium’s principal investigator (PI) for projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Elisa has successfully completed SBIR Phase II projects.

Prior to her current role, Elisa served as CDO and COO for Essentium, where she led operations alongside and technology research efforts. During this time, Elisa directed large scale projects with aerospace, consumer goods, and automotive OEMs and suppliers to ensure successful commercialization of materials and technology.

Elisa’s background not only includes material development and generating patent applications for new technologies using waste streams, her experience also extends to sustainable community development including working for the Earth Institute at Columbia University, as well as overseas with the offices of three former First Ladies.

Elisa holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from CU Boulder where she studied engineering systems which transcend multi-disciplinary boundaries of manufacturing, entrepreneurship, commerce, civic systems, infrastructure, and development. Elisa also holds a masters with an emphasis in materials and manufacturing from Baylor University, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University. Elisa received the Commercialization Rising Star Award, Research Valley Partnership, in 2015 and 1st place in the U.S. / Finalist Young Persons’ World Lecture Competition, Ins. of Materials Minerals and Mining in 2011.

Will Chiang is Chief Operating Officer at Essentium, Inc. In this role, Will is responsible for building frictionless global operations to deliver a seamless experience to Essentium’s customers. He leads Operations, IT, legal, and Supply Chain functions, integrating deeply with vendors on multiple continents while delivering exceptional results.

Will joined Essentium in 2017 and was previously Vice President of Global Supply Chain. He brings over 20 years of experience across consumer electronics and additive manufacturing (AM) industries to run advanced planning processes that ensure supply chain excellence for both customers and suppliers. Before joining Essentium, Will was Supply Chain Development Manager at Jabil, where he developed and executed global supply chain/sourcing strategies for Jabil’s AM business unit.

In his previous position as Program Manager at Panasonic Avionics Corporation, Will developed and maintained IFEC program plans to identify work scope, schedules, milestones, and functional program team members. As Senior Product Development Manager at Mophie, Will managed product development activities through NPI phases and led product launches of multiple development programs. He spent 15 years with Foxlink as a Mechanical Engineer before being promoted to Senior Project Manager.

Will holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California.

Chief Financial Officer

Ryan Vano is the vice president of filaments and logistics of Essentium, Inc. Ryan is responsible for developing and launching class-leading functional filaments for additive manufacturing applications, helping customers make the leap from prototyping to full-scale production.

In this role, Ryan created the first multi-layer thermoplastic filament for additive manufacturing and led the development and production of an entire portfolio of engineering grade materials. Ryan has helped to generate more than $3M in funded research activities which have resulted in the development and launch of multiple innovative products to fuel the additive production of strong, durable and stable parts with the best accuracy and repeatability of any 3D printing technology.

Prior to his current role, Ryan was head of manufacturing for Essentium where he designed, installed, and commissioned a new filament production line and launched a staggering 20 new products and implemented lean and 5S principles to reduce scrap by 100 percent in six months.

Ryan has nearly 10 years of experience building and working in technology start-ups in additive manufacturing, materials science, and automotive industries. He has extensive technical expertise in thermoplastic materials, extrusion, processing, lean production methods, product development, and plant engineering.

Ryan was previously a senior research and development engineer for Natural Composites Inc. where he was responsible for R&D and supply chain efforts for a U.S. $1.2M National Science Foundation (NSF) funded SBIR Phase I-IIB project. He also launched the company’s first fiber composites products in new innovative applications and developed mechanical and interfacial properties for nonwoven fiber composites with natural and recycled content.

Ryan holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Baylor University. He also holds a Technology Entrepreneurship Certificate from the Baylor Hankamer School of Business.

VP of Government Operations

Kristian Oftebro is Vice President of Customer Success at Essentium. He is responsible for developing go-to-market strategies and programs that deliver exceptional customer experiences using Essentium’s ground-breaking high-speed, high-precision 3D printing systems and ensuring customer success, satisfaction, and retention.

Kristian joined Essentium in 2019 and was previously the Director of Quality Engineering. He brings over 25 years of experience across engineering and additive manufacturing (AM) industries. Before joining Essentium, Kristian was Sr Process Development Engineer at Hesse Mechatronics, Inc. Kristian held engineering positions at Howard C Fletcher and Kulicke & Soffa.

Kristian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo.