Bre Pettis

Bre Pettis is the best-known figure in the DIY/3D printing world. He led MakerBot, a global leader in 3D printing technology, as CEO from its beginning in 2009. Now, as Chief Innovation Officer of Bold Machines, Bre is pushing 3D printing into striking new directions, including the development of the first-ever feature film made with 3D-printed characters.

Bre has a long history of making things and inspiring others to make things. Prior to co-founding MakerBot, Pettis co-founded the Brooklyn hacker collective NYC Resistor, where MakerBot technology was first concocted, tested, and proven. He was instrumental in building the first prototypes of MakerBot’s 3D printers, and has become known worldwide as a leading evangelist for personal manufacturing.

In 2006, Bre started the popular “Weekend Projects” video podcast for Make:Magazine, where he taught millions of viewers to make things from pinhole cameras to bicycles to hovercrafts. He also introduced the blog at the popular online handcrafts marketplace, Etsy. Prior to both endeavors, Bre was an art teacher in the Seattle Public Schools system. Today, he serves on the board of Local Motors, a company dedicated to reinventing the automobile through open-source, crowd-powered design.

Bre is passionate about providing the tools for individuals and organizations to create the world around them. He has spoken publicly about empowering students to solve the problems of the future, and worked behind the scenes to bring professional-quality 3D printing technology into the hands of average consumers.

In 2012, Bre was honored with the Disruptive Innovation Award from the Tribeca Film Festival, for "creating an entire ecosystem for desktop 3D printing." Foreign Policy named him #60 on their list of 2013 Global Thinkers. Bre has been a highly sought-after speaker and interview subject, gracing the cover of numerous magazines (most recently Wired), and been a guest on The Colbert Report and many more. MakerBot was featured in the October 2012 edition of Fast Company as a 2012 Innovation by Design awardee, as well as in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Engadget, Make:Magazine, Rolling Stone, TIME, IEEE Spectrum, CNN, Financial Times, NPR, Vogue Italia and many others.