Dean was previously the founding Executive Director of the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute. Dean worked for General Dynamics for 30 years setting up and running manufacturing operations in Egypt, Turkey, and the US and prior to that he worked for Fairchild Republic Company. He recently served as the 2016-2017 President of the North American Manufacturing Research Institute, the 2016 President of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the founding Chairman of the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition, and the Chairman of the Board of the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining. In 2016, he received the “Visionary Leadership Award” that is awarded by the Manufacturing Leadership Council to honor individual manufacturing leaders who have demonstrated, through their ideas, values, and achievements, that they have emerged as leaders in their organizations and markets and have transformed their companies and institutions by challenging assumptions, achieving results, and empowering others.