WEAV3D®
Founders and Board of Directors
WEAV3D Inc. was formed in 2017 after its founders, Lewis Motion and Christopher Oberste, took first place at the Megawatt Ventures competition and third place at the National Cleantech University Prize; winning a combined total of $70,000. Prior to company formation, both founders were involved in the Georgia Tech TI:GER program, where they spent two years participating in commercialization activities related to the WEAV3D technology.
Founder and CEO, Chairman of the Board
Christopher Oberste
Christopher Oberste holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering with a doctoral minor in technology commercialization from Georgia Tech and a Bachelor of Polymer and Fiber Engineering from Auburn University. Christopher worked as a process engineer at GKN Aerospace North America as part of the Auburn University co-op program, gaining hands-on experience with state-of-the art composite manufacturing techniques. As a result, Christopher focused his Ph.D. thesis on developing novel, low-cost composite manufacturing processes, including the WEAV3D composite forming technology. He is named as the lead inventor on one issued patent and four patent applications related to the WEAV3D technology.
Founder, Board Member
Lewis Motion
Lewis Motion holds an MBA from Georgia Tech and a B.S. in Management from the United States Coast Guard Academy. He currently holds the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Coast Guard. Lewis possesses nine years of experience as a military aviator serving as an Aircraft Commander for Coast Guard Search and Rescue, Migrant, and Humanitarian missions as well as a Mission Commander for Coast Guard Specialized Aviation Missions. In addition to these roles, Lewis has over eight years of experience as a government contracting officer and financial officer with the Coast Guard, where he was responsible for Coast Guard enterprise risk management, contract negotiation, budgeting and administrative activities. While completing his MBA, Lewis also served as COO for the Southeast Investor Group.
Board Member
Clay Phillips
Clay Phillips joined WEAV3D’s board of directors as an independent director in March 2018. In addition to this role, Clay currently holds several positions, including the Mobility Technology Lead for the Michigan Small Business Development Center, Executive Advisor to SRI International and Principal of Crow’s Nest Consulting, an innovation and growth consultancy founded in 2014. Previously, Clay spent twenty-eight years at General Motors including leadership positions in corporate and advanced technology strategy, alliance management and innovation commercialization. He was a founding member and VP of GM’s corporate venture capital arm, GM Ventures, and led commercialization due diligence for the R&D Center’s open innovation and internal startup program. Earlier in his career he managed international product and portfolio planning and new business development initiatives. Clay holds a B.A. from Trinity College and an MBA from Columbia University. In between degrees he served as an intelligence officer with the U.S. Navy for six years.
Georgia Research Alliance Board Observer
Jonathan Goldman
Having previously advised the WEAV3D team since 2015 in his capacity as a principal of the Georgia Tech VentureLab, Jonathan Goldman was appointed by the Georgia Research Alliance as their designated board observer in June 2019. Jonathan returned to Georgia Tech VentureLab in 2015, after helping cultivate the program just after its inception from 2002 to 2007. During his five-year tenure at VentureLab, he assisted more than ten companies that, collectively, attracted more than $300M in funding. In 2007 he was instrumental in forming solar firm Suniva, and left to become its Director of Business Development. He most recently served as CTO & VP of Engineering for Hydro Phi Technologies, where he has two patents pending. Jon received his B.S. Degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT and an M.S. degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the School of Materials Engineering at Georgia Tech.
Business and Technical Team
Director of Engineering, Principal Electrical Engineer
Phillip Cheng
Phillip Cheng joined WEAV3D full-time as a principal electrical engineer in May 2020, after working with the team in a part-time capacity since 2017 and having previously worked with Christopher Oberste to develop the WEAV3D technology at Georgia Tech. Phillip received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2015 and worked as an engineer at Delta Airlines from 2015 to 2018, before transitioning to Director of Operations, Owner-Operation Engineering at Sheffield Aerospace where he continued to work with clients such as Delta Airlines on their owner operator produced parts program. Phillip is named as an inventor on two patent applications related to the WEAV3D technology.
Finite Element Analysis Engineer
Meghana Kamble
Meghana Kamble received a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 2019 and a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Pune University in 2016. Prior to joining WEAV3D, Meghana worked as a materials simulation engineer for Boston Materials and completed her master’s thesis on the topic of finite element design optimization of composite monocoques for Formula 3 racecars.
Process Engineer
Coleen Tran
Coleen Tran joined WEAV3D full-time as a process engineer in January 2021, having previously worked in a part-time capacity for the company since 2019. Coleen graduated from the Emory-Georgia Tech Dual-Degree program in 2015, receiving a B.S in Biology and B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. After working as an ORISE Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for two years, Coleen transitioned to engineering, first as an Associate Quality Engineer at MiMedx, and then as a Mechanical Engineer in Cabin Interiors for Sheffield Aerospace. Coleen is a Certified Quality Engineer (American Society for Quality).
Senior Mechanical Engineer
David Reynolds
David graduated in 2008 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of South Florida. Prior to joining WEAV3D, David worked in the packaging and polymer extrusion industries as a mechanical design engineer and most recently at Crane Currency leading mechanical and capital projects for the Alpharetta site.
Advisory Board
WEAV3D Advisor, Emory University School of Law
Nicole Morris is a member of the faculty at Emory University School of Law. She is a professor in practice and director of the Emory TI:GER program. As a professor in practice, her areas of expertise include patent law, patent litigation, patent prosecution, IP licensing and strategy. Prior to joining the Emory faculty, Professor Morris was the former managing patent counsel at The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia. While at The Coca-Cola Company, Nicole was responsible for the development and implementation of the Company’s global patent strategy and providing day-to-day advice and counseling to business stakeholders, including freedom-to-operate and competitive assessments and counseling concerning IP related agreements.
WEAV3D Advisor
Michael Vitek is an entrepreneur and executive-level professional with 20-plus years of technical, operational and business consulting experience. Most recently, Mr. Vitek worked at Mercedes-Benz Technology Northa America in Troy, Michigan as Vice President of Business Development and Managing Director of their Consulting Practice. There he was responsible for the firm’s start-up, Profit and Loss, Resource Management and Global Client Management. Since 2013, Mr. Vitek has worked as an independent technology development advisor to several firms, including ACTANO, ITHAKA, IAV, Ford Motor Company, Mercedes-Benz, Ingersoll Rand, Entrega, Coavis, Toyota Gosai, BE Aerospace, Battery Solutions, MDE International, Intertek and Eaton Corporation. Mr. Vitek holds a B.S. in engineering with emphasis of manufacturing systems and electrical engineering.
WEAV3D Advisor, Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute
Dr. Ben Wang is the Executive Director of Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute and currently serves on the National Materials and Manufacturing Board. He holds the Gwaltney Chair in Manufacturing Systems in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. As Executive Director of Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, Dr. Wang is responsible for the development of an integrated, campus-wide manufacturing innovation strategy and the execution of that strategy. Working closely with a team of professionals in business incubation, economic development, intellectual property, technology transfer and various engineering and science disciplines, he is creating an innovation ecosystem for advanced manufacturing.
WEAV3D Advisor
Burt Smith has been an advisor to the WEAV3D team since 2017 and acted as WEAV3D’s part-time VP of Sales from 2019-2022. Burt has thirty years of highly successful technology sales and marketing, and senior executive sales/marketing/operations experience with large and small technology companies. With a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech, Burt has spent his entire career in technology, helping to launch numerous category-defining products. He has strong international channel sales, business development and marketing development experience in the UK, EU, Middle East and China and has been directly involved in successful IPOs/acquisitions/exits including the sale to Autodesk of the Constructware SaaS (Software as a Service) collaboration software, the sale of the industry leading content management solution MediaBin to Interwoven (now HP) as well as the international IPO for MediaBin.
