Vestal, a.k.a. “O’Brien”, is a decorated former athlete turned engineer. With over a decade in advanced manufacturing O’Brien helped grow a private prototyping company with 85 employees, to be acquired by Protolabs, Inc., now one of the world's largest 3D printing companies with over 2,600 employees and annual revenue of $488M as of 2021. O’Brien is a certified subject matter expert in Additive Manufacturing for Innovative Design and Production (MIT xPRO). He uses his engineering expertise to solve complex problems and provide optimal solutions for manufacturability and improve production systems’ efficiency. He has played vital roles in leadership, project management, lean manufacturing, quality control, logistics and inventory management, procurement, pricing, material science, risk management, Mergers/Acquisitions, sales, marketing, and Technical Operations over the years. 

O’Brien is bullish on regenerative materials, additive manufacturing, biomimicry, topology optimization, augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, blockchain, IIoT, Artificial Intelligence, robotics, and eco-friendly sustainable energy sources. He thinks advancements in these technologies will have a major impact moving forward and are necessary for creating more robust domestic and international supply chains as well as solving some of the major climate crises we all face today.