America Makes Honors Ralph Resnick and Rob Gorham as Distinguished Collaborator Awardees

America Makes announces that last week it honored both Ralph Resnick, FSME, retired NCDMM president and CEO and America Makes founding director, and Rob Gorham, Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) executive director of Manufacturing Initiatives—Office of Business Development and former America Makes Executive Director, with the America Makes Distinguished Collaborator Award, its highest honor, for their contributions to America Makes and its mission.

This announcement came during the annual America Makes Members Meeting and Exchange (MMX), convening in late October 2019 at the historic Henry H. Stambaugh Auditorium ballroom in Youngstown.

Driven by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), America Makes is a U.S. collaborative partner in AM technology research, discovery, creation, and innovation. It is the first of eight Manufacturing Innovation Institutes established and managed by the U.S. Department of Defense as public-private partnerships. America Makes is also a member of the Manufacturing USA network, which seeks to secure U.S. global leadership in advanced manufacturing (AM).

Established in 2014, the America Makes Distinguished Collaborator Award recognizes an individual or a group of individuals with commitment and dedication to the advancement of AM technology, practices, and innovation in the manufacturing industry. NCDMM President and CEO Dean Bartles, Ph.D., and America Makes Executive Director John Wilczynski presented the awards to Resnick and Gorham, respectively.

“It is my great honor to present this award to my friend, colleague, and collaborator, Ralph Resnick,” said Dr. Bartles. “Without Ralph’s leadership of NCDMM, there would not be an America Makes today, as we know it. Under his guidance and oversight throughout these transformative last seven years, the model of public-private partnerships was established and proven through an extraordinary level of member collaboration.”

“During his tenure at America Makes, primarily as executive director, Rob worked tirelessly and enthusiastically to lay the strategic groundwork for the Institute’s continued success,” says John Wilczynski, America Makes Executive Director. “He was the architect for the convener, coordinator, and catalyzer of people, knowledge, and projects brand messaging for defining the Institute’s role within the AM industry.”

The Institute honors the recognized individuals for cultivating collaborative relationships with academia, government and industry, and contributing to the mission of America Makes. America Makes Distinguished Collaborator Award recipients are presented with an award of an artistic rendering of an American Badger and a Coyote, a symbolic representation of the collaborative association these two animal foes and competitors have forged.

Resnick joined NCDMM in September 2008 as Vice President, Chief Technology Officer with more than 35 years of manufacturing experience. He assumed President and Chief Executive Officer in May 2011 and led the NCDMM to winning the competitive National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute contract. Upon award, he also assumed the role of Acting Director of the Institute, now known as America Makes, until February 2013 upon appointing a new director. In May 2019, Resnick stepped down as President & CEO and assumed a new role as NCDMM Fellow until October 2019 when he retired from the NCDMM.

Prior to joining NCDMM, Resnick served as Chief Technology Officer for both The ExOne Company and Extrude Hone Corporation where he was a major contributor in establishing both organizations as leaders in such advanced manufacturing areas as AM, process research, and technology transition to the world’s factory floors. He holds several patents in manufacturing processes and metrology.

Background of Honorees

Resnick serves on the board of directors of SME and is a former member (chairman) of SME’s International Awards and Recognition Committee and the former president of the North American Manufacturing Research Institute (NAMRI/SME). He also serves on the MTConnect Institute Board of Trustees; advisory board for CANRIMT and HI-AM Network of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, DoD’s JDMTP Metals Subpanel; and is a member of the prestigious International Institution for Production Engineering Research (CIRP). 

Resnick is a Fellow of SME and in 2010, he received the NAMRI/SME “Outstanding Lifetime Service Award.”

Gorham joined the NCDMM in 2013 as the America Makes deputy director of Technology Development and in May 2014, he was promoted to Director of Operations. In May 2017, Gorham was promoted to executive director of America Makes until his departure in May 2019.

He has more than a decade of solid defense research and advanced manufacturing experience. Prior to joining America Makes, he was the senior manager of the Manufacturing Exploration and Development (MXD) group within the Advanced Manufacturing Systems and Prototyping (AMS&P) directorate of Lockheed Martin (LM) Aeronautics—Advanced Development Programs (ADP). In this position, he was responsible for leading the transition-focused development and the application of affordable manufacturing technologies for LM Aeronautics and other LM Business Areas across the corporation.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.