A technology leader given the whole operation
Promotion to SVP of Operations and CIO at Velo3D — running IT, security, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, logistics, NPI, and facilities: 175 people, eight departments, roughly 70% of the company, on the strength of an operational track record.
The rare handoff: run the business, not just its technology.
Aaron had rebuilt Velo3D's IT, security, and infrastructure. Then came a different kind of mandate. The CEO recognized his operational strength and handed him the entire operations organization — manufacturing, quality, supply chain, logistics, NPI, and facilities on top of IT and security. Roughly 70% of the company, 175 people, eight departments.
It's a handoff most technology executives never get, because most have never run a factory floor or a supply chain. The challenge was to lead functions he hadn't formally owned before — and Aaron's answer was the one that had always worked: learn the business first, then lead it.
What the work actually was.
Whole-operation leadership
Directed IT, InfoSec & GRC, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Logistics, Facilities, and NPI as a single operations organization.
Operational strategy overhaul
Led a comprehensive operational strategy overhaul aimed at long-term growth, tying disconnected functions to shared goals.
OKRs & execution
Developed OKRs across the org and met or exceeded quarterly targets, raising goal-achievement rates across departments.
Manufacturing & NPI
Applied lean methodologies to manufacturing and drove quality control, and overhauled the NPI process to cut time-to-market while holding 99% InfoSec compliance.
What it delivered.
“The CEO gave me operations because I'd shown I learn the business, not just the technology. Seventy percent of the company — and it ran.”
Four ways it mattered.
Eight functions, from the manufacturing floor to the data center, under one leader.
175 people aligned to shared OKRs and hitting them.
Lean and quality discipline applied to the operation, InfoSec held at 99%.
Ran functions never formally owned by learning the business first.
