6K Appoints Seasoned Government Relations Executive Mary Cronin as Vice President of Government Affairs

New appointment adds skilled government relations, public affairs, and public policy leader to the 6K organization

North Andover, MA. June 23, 2021 – 6K, a leader in the production of sustainable advanced materials for energy storage and additive manufacturing powders, today announced the appointment of Mary Cronin as Vice President of Government Affairs to 6K’s executive leadership team. Cronin’s appointment supports 6K’s mission to drive the domestic production of advanced materials in additive manufacturing and energy storage, in parallel with the efforts of 6K board member former Congressman Joe Kennedy III, and board advisor former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Dr. Joe Felter. Bringing deep expertise in U.S. public policy, state and federal government relations as well as local, state, federal, non-profit, and corporate outreach knowledge, Cronin will help 6K drive change in sustainability, national security, and supply chain. 

6K CEO Aaron Bent said “Issues like battery manufacturing in the US, of which there is near zero capability currently, and securing critical elements like titanium domestically, pose a national threat to the country. Our UniMelt^® production platform can be a key driving force in solving these issues. Having Mary leading these initiatives for 6K with the highest levels of government will give us a strong voice in DC and uncover more strategic program opportunities. 

Cronin’s ability to navigate and build relationships on Capitol Hill, with the Defense Logistics Agency, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and strategic defense primes will contribute and add to the growing number of DLA programs 6K has been awarded. Programs such as the recent $1M DLA phase II program establish a domestic capability to recover and convert critical metals from defense scrap into premium additive manufacturing powder. 

“6K’s ability to impact domestic production for batteries combined with the sustainability benefits and cost reduction potential is what attracted me to the organization,” added Cronin. “Committing $25M to a new Battery Center of Excellence that will have the systems and infrastructure to demonstrate US production capabilities at pilot scale is of high importance at the most senior levels of Government and 6K is well positioned to lead in this area.”  

6K’s UniMelt system is the world’s only production-scale microwave plasma. With a highly uniform and precise plasma zone with zero contamination, it is capable of high throughput production of advanced materials including Onyx In718™ and Onyx Ti64 AM powders. 6K’s UniMelt technology can also spheroidize ferrous alloys like SS17-4PH, SS316, other nickel superalloys including Inconel 625, HX, cobalt-base alloys like CoCr, refractory metals like Mo, W, Re. For energy storage, 6K recently announced single crystal and small particle NMC 811 capabilities and has demonstrated applications of its UniMelt plasma for LTO, NMC-333, NMC-532, NMC-622, NMC-811, higher nickel-containing NMC, and silicon anodes including nano-structured foam and intermetallic composite powders.