Proto Labs names new CEO to succeed Cleveland

A CEO who last year turned around and sold another industrial company has been hired to succeed retiring Proto Labs CEO Brad Cleveland, who led the Internet-enabled, quick-turn manufacturer for 13 years.

Victoria M. Holt took over Thursday as Proto Lab's chief executive.

Holt, 56, was CEO of Spartech Corp., a publicly held supplier of plastic sheeting and compounds used in bulletproof barriers and aircraft cabin windows. She engineered a two-year turnaround and 73 percent jump in operating earnings at that company, which led to Spartech's sale to PolyOne Corp. for a rich premium to Spartech shareholders in early 2013, according to news reports.

Analysts and investors have considered Proto Labs a possible acquisition target by a larger industrial concern.

Proto Labs' stock price, which closed up 2.76 percent to $77.89 per share Thursday, has ranged from $39.64 per share to $89.97 over the past year.

Proto Labs, Minnesota's most-successful initial public offering of the last decade, went public in February 2012 at $16 per share.

Before Spartech, Holt was a senior vice president at PPG Industries, the big coatings and specialty products company.

Holt will be unavailable for media interviews until after Proto Labs reports year-end 2013 earnings later in February.

Holt said in a prepared statement: "I truly understand and appreciate the unique value Proto Labs delivers to its customers.

"Proto Labs delivers this value with very impressive technology, operational excellence and a full array of services for design engineers. I am excited to … build upon the company's market position and competitive advantages.''

Cleveland, 54, considered himself the right guy to take the company to $160 million in revenue, but not the one who should try to take it to $1 billion. Cleveland, an entrepreneurial computer scientist, has left Proto Labs for a several-month break and expects to try another venture, likely involved in alternative energy.

He has sold most of his Proto Labs stake, about $75 million, to diversify his wealth in order to fund charitable initiatives and a family foundation. Under Cleveland, who borrowed $600,000 to invest when he joined the fledgling company with several employees, Proto Labs grew to more than $2 billion in shareholder value, employs 735 Minnesotans and others in several countries and is expected to report profits this year of about $1.45 per share on sales of more than $160 million.

Maple Plain-based Proto Labs, whose sales are growing at a 20 percent-plus clip annually, has the potential to be a $1 billion revenue company, analyst have said. Proto Labs is an online, order-driven, quick-turnaround manufacturer of injection-molded custom parts for product development and short-run production.

It works with thousands of product developers around the world on everything from medical-products components to next-generation kayak paddles to wristwatch parts.