OpsLens Deck of 52 Most Wanted Post 9/11 Frontline Leaders
In 2018, as a spin-off and salute to the original 2003 deck of 52 Most Wanted playing cards, let’s honor post 9/11 frontline leaders here at home. Once a week, for 52 weeks this year, OpsLens will post a card highlighting one of the 52 Most Wanted Post 9/11 Frontline Leaders. You’ll learn the top facts about their business or organization, as well as why they made the list, which comes down to impact, scalability, health, and unique value proposition.
I encourage you to look for these weekly updates, share the card with your network, and support or buy the products and services they offer. See the 52 Most Wanted Post 9/11 Frontline Leaders launch story here.
3 of Hearts| re:3D
As one of the two million-dollar winners for WeWork’s 2018 Annual Creator Award, re:3D already had a track record of pitch triumphs that set it apart from the crowd. That has a lot to do with Mississippi Air National Guard Captain and founder, Samantha Snabes. In 2013, she and a few other friends with brains, curiosity, and grit that are the hallmark of proving grounds like the military and NASA (where Snabes was a researcher), tackled the challenge of making large-scale 3D printing affordable. In five rapidly scaling years, re:3D has broken through the current limitations of 3D printing and unlocked new applications and growth markets worldwide.
From their website:
Gigabot, re:3D’s flagship technology, enables industrial strength, large format 3D printing at an affordable price point. With build volumes starting at eight cubic feet and a robust construction, Gigabot can print objects up to 30x larger than competing desktop models. re:3D’s customer base comprises an esteemed group of specialty manufacturers, engineers, designers, universities, and hobbyists in over 50+ countries around the globe. Currently, re:3D is scaling manufacturing operations, and exploring alternate materials and feedstocks with global leaders in material and life sciences. We’re so excited to see how 3D printing changes the world, and we’re enjoying all the adventures along the way. We want to encourage the spread of 3D printing and support the diverse ideas for 3D printing applications, one Gigabot at a time.
More than just groundbreaking technological solutions, re:3D is about groundbreaking thought and heart. They proudly build their products in America; one Gigabot is donated for 100 sold to a group or individuals making a difference in their community through a crowd-sourced and judged competition; and they are leading the pack in socially conscious concepts in this space, like making a toilet-sized 3D printer powered by trash a commercial reality.
Re:3D is a frontline leader that should be on your list of most-wanted businesses to support in 2018.
Frontline Leader (co-Founder): Samantha Snabes.
Name of Company/Organization: re:3D, founded 2013.
Location: Austin and Houston, Texas, as well as a Puerto Rico outpost.
Post 9/11 Service Connection: Mississippi Air National Guard.
Tours of Duty: Her mission in the Guard is Homeland Defense and disaster response, which includes recent support of ISR Mobile Training Teams and disaster response efforts in Puerto Rico. While a Deputy Strategist with NASA, she volunteered with Engineers Without Borders in Rwanda and Nicaragua.
One sentence tagline &/or mission statement: Think Big, Print Huge.
Website: https://re3d.org/
Luke Winston of Formlabs was quoted in Business Insider as saying, “Most products we use today involve 3D printing in some way during the design cycle. Shoes, electronics, and even building designs make use of it.” As Dylan Love of Business Insider observed, “Even if you’ve never touched a 3D printer, you’ve touched an object that was made possible because of one.”
