Materialise Appoints New CEO

Materialise NV has announced that the company’s board of directors has appointed Brigitte de Vet-Veithen as chief executive officer. de Vet-Veithen will succeed Fried Vancraen, who co-founded Materialise in 1990 and has served as the company’s CEO for 33 years. Vancraen will continue to represent Materialise as the new chairman of the board of directors. The leadership transition will become effective on January 1, 2024, as part of the management changes described as follows.

“We founded Materialise with a mission to create a better and healthier world,” says Vancraen. “Thirty-three years later, the company has reached an ideal point to bring in new leadership to take us into the future. This transition represents an evolution of leadership, not a departure.

Brigitte de Vet-Veithen is the incoming CEO of Materialise, effective January 2024. Image courtesy of Materialise.

"I am proud of what we have accomplished through our efforts to improve and save patient lives and to advance the industrial production process with innovative 3D printing solutions," Vancraen continues. "Brigitte has the perfect combination of internal and external experience and has demonstrated a deep commitment to Materialise’s mission and its people. I cannot think of a better person than Brigitte to lead Materialise and to help shape our industry going forward.”

de Vet-Veithen is a seasoned business leader with over 30 years of experience across multiple industries, according to Materialise. She joined Materialise in 2016 and is currently executive vice president of Materialise Medical, which develops software and 3D printing solutions that help improve patient outcomes. Under her leadership, the medical segment grew to become the company’s fastest-growing and most profitable business segment, Materialise notes.

“It will be an honor to lead Materialise, a company that helped create and continues to shape the 3D printing industry,” de Vet-Veithen says. “As we take this step, I celebrate our roots as 3D printing pioneers, but I am even more excited about our role as pioneers of tomorrow’s possibilities. As 3D printing establishes itself as an essential tool in the production toolbox, Materialise is ideally positioned to capitalize on the tremendous opportunities ahead and to continue driving the growth of our industry.”

Before joining Materialise, de Vet-Veithen held various senior management roles at Johnson & Johnson. She was a consultant in the technology industry and led several companies through growth and transformation, including in her role as CEO of Acertys Group. She holds a Master of Business Administration with a major in engineering from HEC Liege and an MBA from INSEAD.

Vancraen and Hilde Ingelaere founded Materialise in 1990 with anidea to develop 3D printing solutions to solve real-world challenges across industries. More than three decades later, Materialise is active in 20 countries. Materialise became a publicly traded company in 2014 and reportedly remains the only Belgian technology company that trades on Nasdaq.

As of January 1, 2024, Vancraen will provide strategic direction to Materialise and will represent the company as non-executive chairman of the board of directors. In this new role, he will succeed Peter Leys, who has been the executive chairman of the board for 10 years and will continue as a member of the board. Further, as of January 1, 2024, co-founder Ingelaere will step back from her role as executive vice president and will focus on her activities as a board member. Materialise’s executive committee will continue its strategic and operational role under the new presidency of de Vet-Veithen.

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