{"id":63686,"date":"2025-03-19T15:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T14:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/?p=63686"},"modified":"2025-03-19T14:02:14","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T13:02:14","slug":"exclusive-interview-jeannine-kunz-sme-190320255","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/exclusive-interview-jeannine-kunz-sme-190320255\/","title":{"rendered":"An Exclusive, First Interview With Jeannine Kunz, the New CEO and Executive Director of SME"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">RAPID + TCT 2025 is getting ever closer and the anticipation is palpable. And what better way to capture that excitement than going straight to the source? For that reason, we decided to sit down with Jeannine Kunz, the new Executive Director and CEO of SME, the organizers of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/lp\/rapid-tct\/\">RAPID + TCT<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Jeannine Kunz took on her new role effective January 1, 2025, after Bob Willig stepped down at the end of 2024. In her first exclusive interview since taking up the mantle of CEO, she spoke with 3Dnatives\u2019 Managing Director, Filippos Voulpiotis, about the importance of community in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/what-is-additive-manufacturing\/\">additive manufacturing<\/a>, how 3D printing has involved, the impact of AI and smart manufacturing and how new talent is shaping the industry\u2019s future. You can see the full deep dive below:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/toOknFpZigs?si=OHvfZ6ca6Zcp-bnv\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p><div class=\"dnati-inside-article-leaderboard\" style=\"text-align: center;\" id=\"dnati-1934809871\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/app.swapcard.com\/login\/event\/additiv-defense-2026\/ticket\/VGlja2V0VHlwZV83MDM4MQ==\/page\/UmVnaXN0cmF0aW9uRm9ybV81NjE4Ng==\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"LB\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/LB.gif\" alt=\"\"  width=\"850\" height=\"150\"   \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A major theme throughout the interview with Jeannine Kunz is how important people in additive manufacturing are defining and shaping the industry. From pioneers like Terry Wohlers and Carl Decker to the development of new talent within the industry, this is what will continue to help the industry grow and why SME\u2019s focus on both tech and talent is so important. So give it a listen to see even more why it is more important than ever to attend RAPID + TCT this year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">And if you need any extra encouragement, be sure to register for the event <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3WrWeTb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a> using the code \u201c3DNATIVES.\u201d If you register before March 28<sup>th<\/sup>, not only will you get a free expo pass to the event or 20% of a conference pass but you will be entered into a giveaway for a free 3D printed golf club (currently being tested on professional tours) from COBRA PUMA GOLF and full conference pass.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">What do you think of this interview with Jeannine Kunz? Let us know in a comment below or on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/4987104\/\">LinkedIn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/3Dnatives\/\">Facebook<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/3Dnatives_en\/\">Twitter<\/a> pages! Don\u2019t forget to sign up for our free weekly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/3d-printing-newsletter\/\">Newsletter here<\/a>, the latest 3D printing news straight to your inbox! You can also find all our videos on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCMWrNpdLOXa7BffRKXZoaZw\">YouTube<\/a> channel.<\/p>\n<div class=\"dnati-after-content\" id=\"dnati-2293488855\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/amcoe.org\/event\/design-for-additive-manufacturing-design-at-elevation\/\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"DfAM course-850&#215;150\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1.jpg 850w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1-600x106.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1-768x136.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1-160x28.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" width=\"850\" height=\"150\"   \/><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RAPID + TCT 2025 is getting ever closer and the anticipation is palpable. And what better way to capture that excitement than going straight to the source? For that reason, we decided to sit down with Jeannine Kunz, the new&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6077,"featured_media":63687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,180,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-rapid-tct","category-videos"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6077"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63686"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63693,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63686\/revisions\/63693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}