Video summary
In this significant announcement from Blenderheads Episode 13, Tom Van Halen reveals his plan to step down as the chairman of the Blender Foundation and CEO by the end of the year, marking a major transition for the organization he has led since its inception. The primary motivation behind this decision is his desire to reclaim personal freedom and reduce the stress associated with managing daily operations, allowing him to pursue other interests such as research, coding, or gardening. This move was not made impulsively but was the result of long-term discussions with key figures like Francesco "Uncle Rossi" Lodi, who encouraged Tom to establish a structured organization that would allow for his eventual departure. The goal is to ensure the project's health by moving away from a single point of failure and fostering an environment where leadership can be shared among a team rather than resting solely on one individual.
To facilitate this transition, Tom has already taken concrete steps to build a new leadership team comprising four other dedicated individuals who bring diverse perspectives and backgrounds to the Blender ecosystem. The newly formed management structure includes Fiona Cohen as head of operations, Dalai Fento as head of product, Sergey Bin as head of development, and Francesco Lodi serving as CEO and right-hand man. This team represents different facets of the project, ranging from animation studio experience and volunteer development to user advocacy and entrepreneurial spirit. The video highlights that while Tom has been the sole board member since 2002, the organization has grown significantly beyond its early days, necessitating a more robust governance structure with multiple board members who understand how to run an open-source project effectively.
The transition is described as moving from being the driver of the vehicle to taking the back seat, allowing others to steer the ship while Tom remains involved in an advisory capacity. Although there was initial apprehension about whether the team could handle the responsibility without his constant interference, the trial year has shown that the new leadership can collaborate effectively and make decisions together. The video emphasizes the importance of building a shared vocabulary and mutual understanding within the team to navigate conflicts and maintain the unique culture established by Tom over two decades. Despite stepping down from the top executive role, Tom expresses deep affection for Blender and his colleagues, noting that he will always carry the project in his heart even as he explores new chapters in his life.
Ultimately, this episode captures a poignant moment of evolution for Blender, shifting from a founder-led entity to a mature organization capable of sustaining itself through collective leadership. The atmosphere is one of relief and optimism, with Tom expressing joy at finally being able to return to his authentic self without the burden of daily administrative duties. While the future remains somewhat undefined regarding what Tom will do next, the consensus is that this change is necessary for the long-term health and growth of Blender. The video concludes with a sense of closure as the official deed is signed, symbolizing the end of an era and the beginning of a new chapter where the community can thrive under a balanced and distributed leadership model.
Read the full video transcript
We do
>> 35%. It's going like
>> that actually is going fast.
>> When it's too fast, it's not good.
I always sing the sh with me. [music]
[applause]
No way. [cheering]
>> So yeah, I have an announcement to make.
So I will step [music] down as chairman
of Blender Foundation,
comma, one day in the future, right?
I got you.
And don't worry, I'm I'm not going to
announce today that I'm stepping down,
[music]
but I did make steps towards this goal.
>> [music]
>> So the topic is that one day I said it
already five years ago I want to build
an organization that allows me to step
[music] down so that I don't have to run
the daily stuff anymore but I can uh
have time for myself have my freedom
back or do some other things like
research or coding or working in the
garden or I have to acknowledge that I'm
not the youngest person anymore. I would
like to move on. And that's that makes
me also feel
less stressed and more relaxed currently
>> because it feels like that I can go back
to who I really am, right? Who I want to
be more than what it is now.
I've been involved with Blender for many
years and I've been helping a lot ton
over the past uh decades to build a lot
of the things that we have here like you
know being by his side to do a lot of uh
a lot of the work a lot of operational
stuff and a lot of practical things and
just supporting you know the vision that
he's brought forward for the project.
I have like these memories of uh Ton
taking Franchesco and for example at
Anacey or during Sigraph he would they
would go to these trade shows and then
they just just storm off into some other
part of the building where they meet the
very important people and uh talk to
them about supporting Blender and that
kind of stuff.
>> When something bothers like you know he
might you know call Franchesca to talk
about things or like vice versa.
[snorts] So they kind of like you know
see each other like you know as someone
who can help each other.
>> I think we can call it friendship and I
really like him. I I like his very
gentle
um
personality.
>> The earliest memory I have of Franchesco
is
um when was it? somewhere in the late
2000s, but I was there um giving a
workshop, a oneweek workshop about
Blender. And there was this young
Italian dude there uh very much into uh
into architectural
visualization and and that kind of
stuff. And um very ambitious. He
submitted a portfolio for Tears of Steel
and he got accepted of course. Uh so he
was actually an animator on Tears of
Steel. I vaguely remember he was like
sitting there and cursing about shot for
for 4K.
>> He is one of the people responsible for
like the the Blender studio, the Blender
cloud as it was back then and the whole
like financing structure of that and
getting the the project together and uh
so that was a that was a huge
undertaking.
Yeah,
>> we talked about me being CEO of the
whole project, but when does that
happen? And just having that I think in
an undefined point in the future to feel
like ah you know one day I don't think
it's very healthy for I don't think it's
healthy for anyone and so I think that
that's something that we need to try and
commit. Francesco said, "Okay, Tom, uh,
what's what's happening with this?
Because if you are going to wait another
five years, I don't know if I would be
there. I'm not going to wait that long,
right? I would like to know, at least I
want to know what your plans are and how
you feel about it." And yeah, that is
indeed about time to think about it.
>> Ian Hubert made this uh, series called
Dynamo. He directed Tears of Steel. So,
at some point he had this uh wait, he
had this episode that he was working on
uh during Tears of Steel and he needed a
commercial
um a commercial that plays in one of the
episodes on a screen. So,
Uncle Rossy's kitchen.
>> Oh, hello. I didn't see you there.
Welcome to my kitchen.
I'm Uncle Rosie and tonight I'm going to
show you how to prepare one of my most
favorite dishes ever.
>> It's another thing I know about
Franchesco that he always just makes
everything with three ingredients. 10
years later, we were at a film festival.
Franchesco and me and Tyi were just
there talking and this guy behind us in
the stall like also waiting for their
shuttle uh was like looking over.
Excuse me. Are you Uncle Rossi?
[laughter]
[music]
>> [music]
>> All I [music] would expect in my role to
say like okay we want to make some
projects and I have some ideas of what
are the projects that fit. Those are not
decisions that one simply takes [music]
by oneselves but like something that you
decide with people and I think you would
be a very important part of that
decision making process. I came to work
with Franchesco mostly. So obviously for
me uh well first as in the studio but
also just as a person you know um we we
just clicked um immediately. So we
wanted to work together and obviously
with him um um either you know taking
over or getting more responsibilities
um that has an impact on my job because
our our jobs are very interdependent.
He's had the title of COO for a few
years now, but because of how his role
has been built and how Blender has been
built, it's very difficult to have a
real um COO job.
>> Seeing my joy of film making being like
I can't do that anymore.
>> But you can still be the executive. No,
but but maybe you are the CEO and also
still the executive producer. Why
couldn't you be that?
>> Yeah, that's the thing. That's your
role. You have you are you are also you
you're still the role executive
producer.
>> I I it's not a problem.
>> No, I think you still have the role.
>> I do see how much I want to do like more
highlevel things and then I get lost
into doing dayto-day or like dealing
with things that are more urgent. It's a
bit frustrating because I wish I was a
few steps ahead uh of this thing and um
and I'm not.
Huh?
[music]
>> Franchesco has said a few times that he
wants to work in a team. Um, it also is
what Blender needs because of the size
of the company and the type that it's
become, right? It's not the three people
that it was 20 years ago.
>> Since 2002,
I've been the only board member. The
idea is to have even more board members
to grow a little bit to establish a
board of people who know how to run the
Blender open source project.
People have to do what they believe in,
right? So, what is it what you believe
in?
>> Yeah. I don't know. I have to think
about it. But it's fine. It's nothing uh
you know,
>> I thought yesterday was a good talk.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. Yeah. It's fine. It's fine. It's
fine. We don't We don't need to talk
about it now. It's okay.
>> I just want to think about it a little
bit before we have another conversation.
one of the scenarios where I become more
of a leading executive figure in the
blender project. Uh when like when does
that happen and how do I see myself
doing it? For how long do I see myself
doing it? Is this really what do I want
to do? Is this the best way that I can
contribute to the project?
[music]
Welcome to my new office. I'm stepping
back from as much as possible,
especially all the boring things. And I
will let uh Francesco, Fiona, Delai, and
Serge run the business as much as
possible.
>> How does it feel?
>> It's
like I've been here before at the
beginning of 2020 when Tom got sick, but
at the time we didn't really do a lot of
changes. So like for example, the height
of the desk was
like his height. So it's like four or
five cm higher. So it was like really
uncomfortable all the time like this
like
>> but I was like this for like maybe 2
weeks and then there was co so then I
left and everybody left. So that didn't
last very long. Yeah. Now it's
different.
>> I tell [clears throat] people it's not a
transition. I say I moved to the back
seat and I let other people drive. So
every time when I see something I should
think by myself, let it go, let it go.
Somebody else will drive, right? I don't
have a habit to interfere with things
when it doesn't work. I should stop
doing that. That would take a while
before I completely let things go.
>> I was afraid that it would be I mean I'm
still this, you know, I'm still getting
used to it obviously, but it's just I
thought it would be more uh
overwhelming, but instead it's kind of
like a thing that reminds you that there
is the world outside.
>> I think he's happy he's decorating it in
the way he likes it. I want to have like
a space here so that I can have a
whiteboard so then I can talk to people
and have people like sitting around to
make it more kind of friendly.
>> I'm not gone and even when I step down
even further to an advisory position, I
would still like to have a place that I
can sit here and do some work.
>> This is all stuff from Tom. This is
mine.
This poster here, this is the first
ballet show that I went to when I was in
Amsterdam in 2012 and I loved it and I
was like, "Wow, Amsterdam is so cool. I
want to be here." And so then I kept
this as a memory.
[music]
>> [music]
>> the fun.
>> Okay. So, thank you all for coming. I
titled the presentation lead in Blender.
I still struggle a little bit with the
the meaning of leadership. I am not
done. Uh [laughter]
I want to polish it and make it actually
more factual. But like it was just kind
of to highlight one of the points of
this presentation about like leadership
and the future of blender. What I'm
doing is that obviously I am not uh you
know we are not the same person and we
also do uh different things. We settled
to establish something that is called
the leadership team with Dalai as head
of product, Fiona as head of operations,
myself as COO and Sergey as head of
development.
>> They represent the Blender project quite
well from all kinds of different
perspectives.
>> I guess I can say well Tom probably
asked very nicely and some stuff needed
to be done and it's like okay maybe
maybe I can do it and then it's okay and
now we're here. We are people that have
been following the project for so long
and being
contributing to the project in our
capacity in so many different ways.
>> We do represent also different areas of
the project and even different teams of
people. Sometimes
>> we have Francisco who is someone who
being involved as a user and worked as a
producer very closely to the studio.
Then we have se who started as a
volunteer so many and then worked in a
lot of the open projects as a developer.
Fiona has this comes from the world of
animation studios festivals. I started
using the software. I then start to
volunteer as a developer.
But as a developer I always was working
closely with other users as well. I
always wanted to do things to make sure
we will empower more artists. How do we
keep Blender relevant in in uh in five
years time?
>> Yeah.
>> What is the future of Blender?
>> Yeah. At some point, I had a meeting
with Don and Natasha talking about the
uh what would it mean for me to take on
the leadership role of Blender. I said,
you know, there is a difference between
being a steward and a leader.
And uh I think at the beginning
especially and I don't even know for how
long my role will be of a steward and
not a leader that I want it or not.
>> Hello
Yeah.
Yeah. Oh yeah.
We're going to fix the alarm because now
everyone can enter the building and
that's what we don't want. So, we're
going to fix the alarm to make sure it's
completely safe here. and we're going to
film it so that in the future we will
never forget how to do this.
We have to check if the alarm is
working, if the right people will be uh
cold
and then we're all set. [music]
Actually,
for Okay,
time to exit. 30 seconds.
In 19 seconds, you will be electrocuted.
>> We talked about leadership with you and
then you were like, well, what is it to
be to have leadership to be a leader at
Blender in general? And so, we don't
have that defined yet. So to start with
the people actually in management and
then transfer some of that to the teams
was the is the idea today. Yeah.
>> For Blender in all the things that were
done in the past that's what made
leadership in Blender last so long
because there was someone there that was
really respected in the way they were
doing things. Even if you don't agree
but at least you know that the person
knows what they're talking about. on
every individual post you write either
something that you think is going well
that your leaders are doing really well
currently
and one [clears throat] thing that you
think your leaders should improve upon
the challenge was to find the balance
between each other. None of us had that
level of connection of being able to
work together. There is really this
process when you really need to build
this shared vocabulary and also
understanding of each other to then be
able to to talk about this and to deal
with it.
>> Ton was blender because it came from his
mind and like all of his hard work and
then bringing the people together. He
was the architect. So even in like the
dayto-day decisions there was a lot of
tone. I feel still very much a lot of
stewardship, a lot of it because there
is this huge legacy and this huge
culture of doing things in a certain
way. That means you are mostly dealing
with conflict all the time because
you're always trying to go against
something.
>> Things are are different and new. So
they don't know for sure where are we
heading.
[music]
>> [music]
>> It's like going feral.
>> Feral beast.
>> What is it?
>> What are you stealing from this office?
Okay. Hello. Thanks for coming and your
patience. I have the opportunity to give
a recap of the feedback I gathered
during all the meetings I have with you
guys. Yeah. In the beginning of this
year, it was a special moment. Ton liter
made weight for Francesco and they they
did a office swap. So it was very
visible [snorts] that he want to make
space for new leadership. It started as
a trial year and it was quite
challenging year as well. As a new
leadership team you have to figure out
how to collaborate and make decisions
together and that's with Tom still on
the background still watching and often
knowing better.
>> I started this these interviews in June.
You said yeah it's a bit of unclear what
the plans are. ambition
actually. Is there a plan? Is there an
ambition?
>> When I was doing the blender leadership
for
25 years, maybe people complained about
lack of leadership and vision and focus
or other things, but that was not often
an issue cuz people were confident that
I was relatively consistent in what I
was doing. This is the first year of the
new team. I think they will need many
years to get started and to build new
things together and to find out how to
do things.
Yeah. Yeah.
>> Thank you. See you later.
>> [applause]
[applause]
>> Welcome to the 2025 edition of the
Blender conference. How are you guys
feeling? Right. [cheering] Good.
>> How is the
>> currently the there's a blender
management team and I would like to uh
introduce uh them to you. So starting
with the organizer, Fiona Cohen,
head of operations,
[applause]
we have a a designer,
Dalai Fento, head of product, [applause]
the developer, Sher Sher Bin, head of
development, [applause]
and the entrepreneur Francesco Shady.
when the CEO and my right hand and
everything
[applause]
the entrepreneur. So together they've
been basically running the whole blender
organization since the beginning of the
year and I think they actually really
did a tremendous job. So time for me
then to say I'm going to make a next
step. So with a bit of sharpness but
with a lot of confiction I'm going to
announce that I will step down as
Blender foundation and chairman and
blend the CEO by the end of the year. So
what am I going to do? Uh I don't know
but whatever it is I will always take
Blender with me because you know uh
Blender and all of you is here in my
heart. Thank you. [applause]
>> [applause]
[music]
>> All right. Good luck. Next.
[music]
>> [music]
>> Is this an emotional moment for you or
>> a little bit?
>> Little bit. It's your life's
>> work. My life's work. Huh?
>> Huh?
>> So, but I'm ready. [snorts]
>> Yeah, you're ready.
that this deed is executed today in
Amsterdam. The contents of the deed were
uh explained to the appearing persons
and then this deed is read out partially
and immediately thereafter signed by the
appearing persons and me.
[clears throat]
>> Click
you shine.
>> Yeah. And that's the official.
>> And then it's official.
There you go. It's done.
All right,
I'm free. [laughter]
>> Yeah, all the best for the future.
>> Good job. [music]
>> I've got 40 baller. [music]
>> [music]