Earlier this week we hear Jon Hirschtick is leaving SolidWorks. Ctrl-C. Ctrl-V. Austin O’Malley. From a tipster early yesterday, we learned a new VP of Research and Development is on over at SolidWorks and received confirmation from SolidWorks that Austin O’Malley, VP of R&D who was with SolidWorks for over 16 years, is leaving.
Taking his place? Gian Paolo Bassi, founder and CTO of RIWEBB, a CAD development and consultancy firm out of San Jose, CA. He was formerly with ImpactXoft, think3 and Computervision, has a strong background in functional modeling and collaboration with multiple patents and graduate Summa cum Laude in Mechanical Engineering. Austin O’Mallyey was heading some of the Cloud development within SolidWorks, so, it’s safe to say Gian will likely be following this up. Let’s hope it’s done with a little more style than the RIWEBB website *shiver*.
Two high profile SolidWorks Executives leaving the same week is all a bit of a shock. They’re also two of a handful of people at SolidWorks that I (and others) truly respect and admire. Now with all of this happening and mama Dassault at the helm… well, it doesn’t mean SolidWorks is dead, but if Jon and Austin introduced a new product, or even talk about a new product or just say ‘3D’, I’m signing up for whatever it is.
