Elementum 3D Taps Aerospace Veteran Andrew Crickenberger as CEO

A new captain for a metal powder specialist

Elementum 3D has a new chief executive. The Colorado company said on July 27 that Andrew Crickenberger took over as CEO on July 17, 2026. He replaces founder Jacob Nuechterlein, who stays on as executive chairman and shifts into the chief strategy officer role.

The move is the kind of quiet leadership swap that matters more than it looks. Elementum 3D does not sell printers. It sells the metal powders that those printers melt, sinter, and fuse into finished parts. In metal additive manufacturing, the material is half the battle, and sometimes the harder half.

Who is Andrew Crickenberger

Crickenberger brings more than 30 years of aerospace and defense leadership. Most recently he was chief growth officer at NIOA Group, a munitions and weapons systems firm with operations across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and the US.

Before that he ran strategy for the Aerojet Rocketdyne segment of L3Harris Technologies, a business worth about 2.5 billion dollars. He helped steer planning for solid rocket motors, hypersonic propulsion, and liquid engines used in space launch. He was also part of the team that closed L3Harris' 4.7 billion dollar purchase of Aerojet Rocketdyne.

His roots go back 25 years at Northrop Grumman, where he held senior posts in strategy and business development for missile products and ran the commercial side of the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant.

"My priority is to broaden Elementum 3D's product portfolio, strengthen its position with existing customers, and accelerate entry into new markets," Crickenberger said in the announcement.

Why the change matters

Elementum 3D was founded in 2014 and built its name on Reactive Additive Manufacturing, a process the company calls RAM. The idea is to make high-performance alloys that were once difficult or impossible to print using standard laser powder bed methods. Think aluminum composites and other metals tuned for aerospace, defense, energy, and automotive work.

Nuechterlein said the handoff lets him focus on the long-term technology roadmap while Crickenberger drives commercial growth. That split is a familiar pattern for founder-led firms that want to keep inventing while someone else opens new doors.

For the wider 3D printing world, a stronger Elementum 3D means more competition in the metal powder market, an area long held by a handful of suppliers. More players usually means better materials at better prices, and that trickles down to everyone printing metal parts.