Jennifer Lawton (born 1963) is an American businesswoman and

applied mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History One ...

. She is COO of Techstars, a

startup accelerator Startup accelerators, also known as seed accelerators, are fixed-term, cohort-based programs, that include mentorship and educational components, and (sometimes) culminate in a public pitch event or demo day. While traditional business incubato ...

Early life and education

Jennifer Lawton was born in 1963 in Quantico, Virginia. She settled in Pennsylvania and graduated with honors from Council Rock High School North. Lawton graduated from

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the s ...

with B.S. degree in Applied Mathematics in 1985. Her first job out of college was as an administrative assistant at a small consulting company, R.G. Vanderweil Engineers. In 1991, she co-founded a computer support consulting firm, Net Daemons Associates (NDA) in Boston. With Lawton's leadership Net Daemons was recognized in the 1998 Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing privately held United States companies Net Daemons was also on the Deloitte and Touche Fast 50 and Fast 500 lists for 1997 and 1998. After the events on September 11, 2001 Jennifer Lawton left the technology business and became an independent business owner in downtown

Old Greenwich, Connecticut Old Greenwich is a coastal village in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 6,611. The town of Greenwich is one political and taxing body, but consists of several distinct sections or neig ...

. Lawton opened the bookstores Just Books and Just Books as well as Arcadia Cafe.

MakerBot

Lawton reentered the technology business and accepted the position of Chief Strategy Officer at

MakerBot MakerBot Industries, LLC was an American desktop 3D printer manufacturer company headquartered in New York City. It was founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach "Hoeken" Smith to build on the early progress of the RepRap Projec ...

. In 2014, Lawton was named the CEO. Under her leadership MakerBot was named ''Popular Mechanics'' "Overall Winner" for best 3D printer, ''Popular Science'' "Product of the Year", one of ''Time'' "Best Inventions of 2012", and ''Fast Company'' included it as one of the "World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Consumer Electronics". On March 1, 2015, Lawton was replaced as MakerBot CEO by Stratasys Asia Pacific Japan general manager Jonathan Jaglom. The move came after Stratasys' disappointing financial performance in 2014 following the acquisition of MakerBot. Lawton took on a new role as VP of Special Projects and left Stratasys four months later. In 2014, Jennifer Lawton was inducted into the

Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame The Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame (CWHF) recognizes women natives or residents of the U.S. state of Connecticut for their significant achievements or statewide contributions. The CWHF had its beginnings in 1993 when a group of volunteers part ...

for her work in business and labor.

Currently

Jennifer Lawton was named the COO of Techstars in the fall of 2016, a technology start-up incubator.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawton, Jennifer 1963 births Living people American women chief executives American corporate directors Women corporate executives American women engineers American technology chief executives American computer businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American women engineers 21st-century American engineers 21st-century American businesswomen