- After almost 10 years in the position
- Praise and thanks for Buller
- Brad Kreger taking over temporarily
- Search for a successor
(exechange) — Campbell, California, December 15, 2023 — Benny Buller, chief executive of Velo3D, leaves his position. As announced by Velo3D Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Friday, December 15, 2023, Benyamin (Benny) Buller leaves his post as chief executive officer at the metal 3D printing technology company, after almost 10 years in the role, effective immediately.
Generally speaking, it raises questions when a CEO leaves his post abruptly.
Velo3D will undertake a search for a successor.
Benny Buller’s duties as CEO will be taken over temporarily by Brad Kreger, most recently Executive Vice President of Operations at Velo3D Inc., as Interim Chief Executive Officer.
“A change would best position the company for future success”
The management change is explained as follows. Carl Bass, Chairman of the Board of Velo3D, stated: “We are incredibly grateful to Benny for all his contributions. However, given the current environment, the Board believed a change would best position the company for future success.”
Precise information regarding Benny Buller’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Stepped down/resigned”
Velo3D said: “Benny Buller has stepped down as the company’s Chief Executive Officer at the request of the Company’s Board of Directors, effective immediately.”
Velo3D further said: “On December 15, 2023, at the request of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Velo3D, Inc. (the “Company”), Benyamin Buller resigned from his position as Chief Executive Officer the Company.”
Share price decline since December 2021
The announcement follows a decline in Velo3D Inc.’s share price of 93% since December 2021.
In the position of CEO since 2014
Benny Buller became CEO of the Company in 2014.
Buller will remain a member of the Company’s Board of Directors.
Benny Buller has served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and as member of the Company’s Board since September 2021.
Buller is Legacy Velo3D’s founder and, prior to the consummation of the Merger, served as Legacy Velo3D’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of Legacy Velo3D’s Board from June 2014 until September 2021.
From April 2012 to June 2014, Buller was an investor at Khosla Ventures, a venture capital firm. Earlier in his career, Buller worked at Applied Materials, a semiconductor company, Solyndra, Inc., an energy company, and First Solar, a solar company, where he founded the device physics team.
Buller holds a B.Sc. in Physics and a M.Sc. in Applied Physics from Jerusalem University.
He also holds an M.Sc. in Science from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
No statement by Benny Buller
In the release announcing his departure as CEO of Velo3D Inc., Benny Buller received praise and thanks.
The announcement of his departure as CEO does not include a statement by Benny Buller.
Push-out Score for Benny Buller’s move determined
The Push-out Score indicates on a scale of 0 to 10 how likely it is that Benny Buller was pushed out or felt pressure to leave his position.
exechange reached out to Velo3D and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 51.2023 ($).