Home / Velo3D Expands Board of Directors Temporarily with Three New Appointments

Velo3D Expands Board of Directors Temporarily with Three New Appointments

Velo3D Inc. (Campbell, CA) has temporarily expanded its board of directors from seven seats to ten seats. Collectively, the three new directors represent nearly a century of leadership experience in public and private companies across aviation, energy, engineering, manufacturing, and operations.

Posted: September 27, 2021

New director Michael Idelchik was previously vice president and officer of advanced technology at GE Global Research. There for 39 years, he led a global team of 1,200 scientists, engineers, and technicians from many major scientific and engineering disciplines.

New director Ellen Smith previously served as senior managing director of the energy, power and products practice of FTI Consulting. Currently, she has a leadership role in FTI Consulting's Women's Initiative, on the Global Steering Committee. In 2003, she named to the Top 50 Women in Power.

New director Gabrielle Toledano has nearly 30 years of leadership experience in human resources and operations in both enterprise and consumer companies and serves a chief operating officer of Keystone Strategy LLC.

Idelchik started his career at GE in GE Aviation, receiving two awards for his engineering skill. During his time at GE Healthcare and GE Lighting, Idelchik built a track record of aligning engineering, manufacturing, and technology to reflect market trends. In 2002, he founded and built the China Engineering, Sourcing, Manufacturing and Research Technical Center in Shanghai.

Smith has more than 30 years of experience, including experience with GE Energy and Pratt & Whitney, where she headed both the power segment and commercial engine segment with accountability for all P&L activities relating to aeroderivative power generation product sales, projects, and service.

While at Pratt & Whitney, she servied as vice president of commercial engine programs. Smith led the development teams for the PW6000 engine and the PW4000, PW2000 and JT8/9D operational engine programs. Smith also previously served as the chief operating officer at National Grid U.S. Before that, she was vice president of refinery optimization at Hess Corp.

Toledano has experience as a director, having served on 10 public and private boards, including previously as chair of the compensation committee at Glu Mobile and Jive Software. Toledano currently serves as chair of the compensation committee at Better.com and is a member of the compensation committee at Bose Corp. Also, she is a board member at Namely.

Previously, she was executive in residence for Comcast Ventures and its portfolio companies and was chief human resources officer at Tesla, Electronic Arts, and Siebel Systems. Toledano will join the Velo3D board as chair of the compensation committee.

“One of our guiding principles at Velo3D is to stay laser focused on solving customer problems and helping our customers be successful,” said Benny Buller, founder and CEO, Velo3D. “I asked Mike, Ellen and Gaby to join the board for this reason: I want the voice of our customers to drive our decision-making process/strategic direction. Their experience, talent, and leadership will be major assets to Velo3D as we become a public company and accelerate through our next phase of growth.”

In March, Velo3D announced plans to merge with JAWS Spitfire Acquisition Corp. (Miami Beach, FL) and become a public company. Six months after the merger occurs, the Velo3D board will decrease from ten directors to nine.

Velo3D offers additive manufacturing (AM) systems for 3D printing of high-value metal parts.

velo3d.com