News
America Makes Honors Richard J. Lonardo with Its 2018 Distinguished Collaborator Award
October 30, 2018 | Categories: America Makes News
Class of 2018 America Makes Ambassadors Announced
L-R: Ralph Resnick, NCDMM President & CEO and America Makes Founding Director; Rich Lonardo; Rob Gorham, America Makes Executive Director
Youngstown, Ohio — October 30, 2018. America Makes proudly announces that it honored Richard J. Lonardo, Principle Consultant of Defense and Energy Systems LLC of Youngstown, Ohio, with the America Makes Distinguished Collaborator Award, its highest honor, for his ongoing advocacy of the America Makes mission and program management of several America Makes projects. This announcement came during the annual America Makes Members Meeting and Exchange (MMX), held in partnership this year with the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber, convening today and tomorrow, Oct. 31th, at the historic Henry H. Stambaugh Auditorium ballroom in Youngstown. America Makes Executive Director Rob Gorham and America Makes Founding Director Ralph Resnick presented the award.
Driven by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), America Makes is the nation’s leading and collaborative partner in additive manufacturing (AM) technology research, discovery, creation, and innovation. Established in 2014, the America Makes Distinguished Collaborator Award recognizes an individual or a group of individuals with exceptional commitment and dedication to the advancement of AM technology, practices, and innovation in the manufacturing industry.
“On behalf of all of us at America Makes, it is my honor to present the 2018 Distinguished Collaborator Award to Rich Lonardo,” said America Makes Executive Director Rob Gorham. “Rich’s ongoing, resolute advocacy of America Makes is nothing short of inspiring. Yet for anyone who knows Rich, this aspect of his personality should come as no surprise. In much the same way that he served his country for more than 20 years, Rich has similarly demonstrated an unwavering commitment to serving America Makes and promoting our mission. Not only has he successfully led two America Makes technical research projects, he has also served to set the standard for how the role and responsibilities of a project Principal Investigator should be performed. Always willing to step in and discuss the value of America Makes, he has referred a number of companies into our membership community. For these reasons and many others, we proudly recognize Rich with our Distinguished Collaborator Award.”
The Institute honors the recognized individual(s) for cultivating effective collaborative relationships with academia, government, and industry, and contributing to the mission of America Makes. America Makes Distinguished Collaborator Award recipients are presented with an award of an artistic rendering of an American Badger and a Coyote, a symbolic representation of the collaborative association these two animal foes and competitors have forged.
As the Principal Consultant of Defense and Energy Systems, Mr. Lonardo brings vast expertise in technology transition, project management, and engineering services. In this capacity, he currently serves as the Additive Manufacturing Program Manager for the Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI) and functions as one of its technical liaisons with America Makes.
Previously, Mr. Lonardo spent two decades in the military, as an RDECOM advisor to combatant commanders at CENTCOM and SOUTHCOM, among others. He began his military service at the start of the Gulf War as a junior officer in General Norman Schwarzkopf’s staff. Beginning in 2003, Mr. Lonardo was deployed numerous times throughout the years to facilitate collaboration and tech transition between key military, research, and industry partners to solve urgent needs.
Mr. Lonardo holds a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Youngstown State University.
America Makes Ambassador Program
In addition to recognizing the Distinguished Collaborator Award recipient, America Makes also announced the Class of 2018 America Makes Ambassadors. Launched last year, the Ambassador Program recognizes and appreciates individuals who continually demonstrate outstanding dedication to America Makes and its mission. The 2018 Class of inductees to the Ambassador Program include:
- Eric Barnes, Manager of Manufacturing Technology, Northrop Grumman
- Rick Billo, Associate Vice President for Research, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Notre Dame
- Sarah Boisvert, MBA, Founder, Fab Lab Hub, LLC
- Jesse Boyer, Fellow – Additive Manufacturing, Pratt & Whitney
- Lauralyn McDaniel, Industry Manager – Medical and Manager, Innovation Watch, SME
- Neal Orringer, Vice President – Defense R&D, 3D Systems Corporation
- Brandon Ribic, Ph.D., Joining Specialist, Rolls-Royce Corporation
- Tim Shinbara, Vice President of Manufacturing Technology, AMT—The Association For Manufacturing Technology
- Andy Snow, Sr. Vice President, Electro Optical Systems (EOS) North America
- Jim Tressel, President, Youngstown State University (YSU)
TOP R-L: Mark Cotteleer, Marilyn Gaska, Anthony Hughes, Mike Garvey, Ashley Martof-Totin, Terry Wohlers, Rick Billo, Teresa Clement. BOTTOM: L-R: Jim Tressel, Bob Heinlein receiving for Neal Orringer, Tim Shinbara, Eric Barnes, Lauralyn McDaniel, Jesse Boyer, Sarah Boisvert, Brandon Ribic
Visit http://americamakes.us for more information about America Makes, the MMX event, or on how to become a member. Follow the Institute on Twitter @AmericaMakes.
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About America Makes
America Makes is the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute. As the national accelerator for additive manufacturing (AM), America Makes is the nation’s leading and collaborative partner in AM and 3DP technology research, discovery, creation, and innovation. Structured as a public-private partnership with member organizations from industry, academia, government, non-government agencies, and workforce and economic development resources, we are working together to innovate and accelerate AM to increase our nation’s global manufacturing competitiveness. Based in Youngstown, Ohio, America Makes is the first Institute within the Manufacturing USA infrastructure and is driven by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM). For more information about America Makes, visit http://americamakes.us.
About NCDMM
NCDMM delivers innovative and collaborative manufacturing solutions that enhance our nation’s workforce and economic competitiveness. NCDMM has extensive knowledge and depth in manufacturing areas—both commercial and defense—to continually innovate, improve, and advance manufacturing technologies and methodologies. Our experienced team specializes in identifying the needs, the players, the technologies, and processes to attain optimal solutions for our customers. We connect the dots. That’s the NCDMM methodology. NCDMM also manages the national accelerator for additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing (3DP), America Makes—the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute. For additional information, visit the NCDMM at http://ncdmm.org/.
