Aurora Labs announces board and executive team changes
March 25, 2020
The Board of Aurora Labs, headquartered in Bibra Lake, Australia, has announced the continuation of its ‘Board Refresh Strategy’, which aims to commercialise the company’s metal Additive Manufacturing technology, currently in the Beta-testing phase. In addition to the Board Refresh, the executive team will also be reorganised to further strengthen successful commercialisation.
David Budge, the company’s current Managing Director and CEO, has agreed to assume the new role of Chief Technical Officer, and Peter Snowsill, currently Chief Operations Officer, will act as interim CEO pending a new CEO’s appointment. The company explained that Snowsill is well qualified to stand in as CEO, with over twenty-five years technology-based executive, engineering and project management experience across Australia, the Asia-Pacific and the Americas, including SME, multinational, government and the not-for-profit sector.
Paul Kristensen, current Board Chairman, has agreed to retire from the board to further support the Board Refresh Strategy and to “ensure the appropriate board makeup for a company at Aurora’s size and development stage.” David Budge and Nathan Henry, the current Executive Directors, will also retire from their Board positions to ensure the Aurora Board is majority non-executive in makeup, in-line with best practice for ASX-listed companies. Consistent with the refresh strategy, two new non-executives have joined the board. Grant Mooney joins as Non-Executive Chairman, and Ashley Zimpel joins as a Non-Executive Director.
Mooney is said to have significant experience in ASX-listed development companies across all stages and is the principal of Perth-based corporate advisory firm Mooney & Partners, which specialises in corporate compliance administration to public companies. He has gained extensive experience in the areas of corporate and project management since commencing Mooney & Partners in 1999, and his experience extends to advice on capital raisings, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance. Mooney is chairman, director and company secretary of a number of ASX-listed companies in the resources and technology sectors.
Zimpel is described as a business developer, founder, entrepreneur, corporate financier, adviser and senior banker/investment banker, with broad financial markets experience.He is reported to have a strong record of capital raising in both equity, debt and structured financial products for start-ups, SMEs, ASX-listed public companies and government agencies both in Australia and internationally. His stockbroking and investment banking experience reportedly spans over thirty years across capital markets, corporate finance and public company businesses.
Outgoing Board Chairman Kristensen explained that the time is right to implement the strategy. “Aurora has received an increasing level of interest from several major international businesses for its 3D printing technology,” he stated, “so it’s imperative we are able to capitalise on this by ensuring we have the optimal skillset at a Board and Executive level for the next exciting phase of the company’s evolution.”
“As the company’s founder, David has been an integral part of Aurora’s development since its inception and his knowledge of 3D printing technology and the broader Aurora business is invaluable,” he added. “This is why I’m delighted that David will continue at the company as CTO, which will enable him to focus on his primary expertise of cutting-edge research into 3D metal printing.”
Budge commented, “I am very supportive of these changes and look forward to continuing to contribute to the technical leaps and bounds that will keep Aurora in the lead. I believe that as a company, we are on the cusp of a very significant, transformative opportunity in Additive Manufacturing – a larger opportunity than one person can capture by themselves.”
