Digital Manufacturing Experts

Experienced industry leaders and specialists are available to discuss prototyping and production with digital manufacturing

Suresh Krishna

CEO and President

Krishna is President and Chief Executive Officer of Protolabs. He previously served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Northern Tool + Equipment. Krishna has also held operations and leadership roles at companies such as Sleep Number Corporation, Polaris Industries and UTC Fire & Security. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the National Institute of Technology (Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India) and a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Areas of Expertise

  • Evolution of digital manufacturing to serve customers from prototyping to production
  • Leadership strategies that drive growth and remove friction across organizations
  • Establishment of customer-centric culture

Mark Kermisch

Chief Technology and Artificial Intelligence Officer

Kermish oversees Protolabs’ global technology organization, leading its strategic initiatives and artificial intelligence (AI) solution strategy. Kermisch brings more than 25 years of senior executive experience at technology and R&D organizations across diverse industries, including manufacturing, software, and retail. Most recently, he served as Chief Technology Officer for Emergent Software, a technology company specializing in software development, cloud transformation, AI, and data engineering solutions. Prior to Emergent, he was Global Chief Digital and Information Officer at Case New Holland (NYSE: CNH), a manufacturer of agriculture and construction equipment where he focused on developing autonomous vehicles, precision farming applications, and electric powertrains. 

Areas of Expertise

  • Implementation of AI strategies on an enterprise level
  • Technological transformation within manufacturing
  • Industry 5.0 strategies pairing automation and technology with human expertise

Bernadine Henderson

Senior Director of Procurement

Henderson is the Sr. Director of Global Procurement and Logistics at Protolabs, where she provides strategic direction for procurement, sourcing, and logistics processes.  She brings more than 25 years of supply chain management experience and has held leadership roles across several industries, including serving as a Director at Honeywell.  Henderson holds a Master of Business Administration from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Areas of Expertise

  • Sourcing strategies across a global supply chain
  • Procurement in times of supply chain disruption
  • Sourcing/procurement trends observed with Fortune 500 companies

Chris Gottlieb

Global Product Director for CNC Machining and Sheet Metal Fabrication

Gottlieb delivers a customer needs perspective to the Protolabs organization while leading the CNC and sheet metal fabrication product management teams. She has more than 25 years of manufacturing experience, having worked with customers in aerospace and defense, automation, industrial, and more. Having started as a calibration engineer in Detroit, Gottlieb has a passion for systems engineering and optimization in technical fields. She has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Science from University of Michigan – Dearborn, and a Master of Business Administration from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Areas of Expertise

  • Current and future-looking trends within CNC machining and sheet metal fabrication
  • Emerging innovative trends within industries related to their use of CNC machining and sheet metal fabrication
  • Protolabs' strategies to best serve customers in response to their product development & lifecycle needs

Ryan Kees

Global Product Director for 3D Printing and Injection Molding

Joining Protolabs in 2023, Kees brings 16 years of experience in manufacturing and industrial automation industries. His career spans roles in supply chain, marketing, and product management across U.S. and European markets. As the product director for injection molding and 3D printing at Protolabs, he helps evolve both additive and injection-molded solutions that accelerate the product development process from prototyping to production.

Areas of Expertise

  • Current and future-looking trends within 3D printing and injection molding
  • Emerging innovative trends within industries related to their use of 3D printing and injection molding 
  • Protolabs' strategies to best serve customers in response to their product development & lifecycle needs

Eric Utley 

3D Printing Applications Engineering Manager

Utley is an Applications Engineering Manager at Protolabs with over 16 years of experience in additive manufacturing and has manufactured products for the medical, consumer products, aerospace, and automotive industries. A passionate evangelical of digital manufacturing methods, Utley has published industry thought leadership for Design News, Machine Design, and 3DPrint.com. Today, he manages an Applications Engineering team of both 3DP and CNC manufacturing experts. He earned a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University.

Areas of Expertise

  • Emerging 3D printing applications within or across industries
  • Evolution of 3D printing technologies
  • Designing parts for 3D printing

Chloe Vollaro 

3D Printing Project Engineer

Vollaro is a project engineer at Protolabs with nearly a decade of experience in additive manufacturing. She specializes in helping customers leverage additive manufacturing for production and high requirement projects. She has a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Connecticut and is pursuing a Master of Materials Science and Engineering degree from North Carolina State University.

Areas of Expertise

  • 3D printing material advancement and resulting expanded applications
  • Leveraging 3D printing for end-use production parts
  • Applications for 3D printing across emerging technologies