Ultimaker announces retirement of CEO Jos Burger with Jürgen von Hollen named as replacement

"The last seven years have been intense. It’s now time to retire from the CEO role."

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Ultimaker has announced the retirement of CEO Jos Burger, who will step away from his role and join the company’s Supervisory Board on January 1st 2021.

Former Universal Robots President and CEO Jürgen von Hollen has been named as Burger’s replacement.

Burger joined Ultimaker in 2014 and helped to grow the company’s presence in the additive manufacturing space and extend its reach beyond the consumer and educational markets into several industrial sectors. In this time, the company’s 3D printing systems would be applied by the likes of Volkswagen and Jabil for jigs and fixture applications, Ultimaker would launch the S5 3D printer to cater for larger components and it would also partner with dozens of materials players to expand the materials options with its hardware.

Speaking ahead of his retirement, Burger said: “I’m tremendously proud of everything we achieved at Ultimaker in a short period of time. The transformation from a start-up to a company that now shapes how companies produce and manufacture is phenomenal. The last seven years have been intense and, given my age, it’s now time to retire from the CEO role. All the building blocks that will sustain future growth are there, and now it’s the best moment to hand over to Jürgen. Ultimaker continues to have a unique space in my heart and I’m thrilled with the opportunity to serve on the Supervisory Board.”

Burger’s replacement, von Hollen, will take over the reigns in the new year, bringing with him ‘extensive international experience’ and a ‘wealth of leadership in fast-growth technology industries’. At Universal Robots, he helped to establish the company as a leader in collaborative robotics, while he has also held leadership roles at Bilfinger SE, Daimler-Chrysler Services, T-Systems, and Pentair. Taking up the CEO role at Ultimaker, von Hollen says he wants to help users ‘transform’ by advancing productivity and flexibility.

"I am very excited to be joining the Ultimaker team, who has developed a leading product, strong business model and has a very talented team," offered von Hollen. "I believe this uniquely positions Ultimaker to take full advantage of a USD 35 billion 3D printing market and outgrow this market, which itself is expected to grow at 20% per annum. Ultimaker has the ability to enable dynamic innovation, flexible manufacturing and delivers great productivity improvements. Together, we want to transform organisations and Ultimaker is in a great position to grow as the leader."

“We are excited to have Jürgen as our new leader,” added Supervisory Board Chairman Bart Markus. “He is perfectly suited to take Ultimaker to new heights. Jos is leaving a great legacy behind and now it is the right time to take advantage of what Jos has built and accelerate the company further.”

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