Paul Knight
Chief Executive Officer
Jerry Quill
Chief Financial Officer
Laurie Adelman Strickland
Senior Director of Global Sales
Mike Hammond
Vice President of Inventory
Joerg Herbarth
Vice President of Product & Business Intelligence
Aida Nutautas
Compliance & Sustainability Champion
Nellie Zhang
Director of Sales – APAC Region
Paul Knight
Chief Executive Officer
Paul Knight is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of illumynt. Paul founded illumynt (CNE Direct) in 2002 with the inspiration to develop a robust electronics marketplace to sell excess, obsolete and retired IT assets. This marketplace would help provide a sustainable alternative to reuse hardware that was often disposed of in an environmentally harmful manner.
With over 35 years of leadership in technology, Paul’s vision and focus has remained consistent throughout − to help companies manage the challenges resulting from rapid changes in supply and demand for electronic products worldwide. Paul and his team have developed innovative programs that help assist some of the world’s leading technology companies find alternative channels for their retired and trailing edge technology, while supporting a sustainable circular economy.
Prior to founding illumynt, Paul served as Vice President and General Manager at NECX (now Converge, an Arrow Electronics Company) responsible for leading the organizations’ trading operations and establishing a new international sales division.
Paul is a graduate of the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and holds a Certificate of Foreign Studies from Sophia University in Tokyo.
Jerry Quill
Chief Financial Officer
Jerry Quill is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at illumynt, responsible for the financial performance, and growth of illumynt’s global business.
An executive with over 20 years’ experience in managing operations, complex capital assets and investments, Jerry leads the global finance team focused on expanding illumynt’s platform and capabilities, while generating profitable growth in all markets.
Prior to his role as CFO, Jerry held a number of positions including Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and was Vice President of Corporate Strategy. He also was Managing Director at GE Capital where he led teams in the completion of $3 billion of investments, including corporate acquisitions, joint ventures, and portfolio purchases.
Jerry holds an MBA from the Boston University Questrom School of Business and an undergraduate degree in finance from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Laurie Adelman Strickland
Senior Director of Global Sales
Laurie Adelman Strickland is Senior Director of Global Sales, responsible for illumynt’s global technology remarketing team.
Leveraging over two decades of experience in asset management and remarketing expertise, Laurie leads a global team of sales professionals in the development of new sustainable markets for the reuse of retired electronics and excess computer components.
Prior to joining illumynt, Laurie held the position of Enterprise and Technology Manager at Dell Financial Services, as well as a number of leadership positions at Dell and Hewlett Packard.
Mike Hammond
Vice President of Inventory
Mike Hammond is Vice President of Inventory, responsible for the strategic development of programs to reuse technology equipment sustainably and securely.
Leveraging over two decades of experience in technology acquisition and resale, Mike combines data and business intelligence into the sales process to create effective and sustainable reuse solutions that help companies manage their retired electronics and excess computer component challenges.
Prior to his role as Vice President of Inventory, Mike held several positions at illumynt (formerly CNE Direct) including, VP Solutions Development and Vice President of Global Sales. Prior experience includes management positions as a senior trader and business analyst at Converge (an Arrow Electronics Company) and sales positions at Real World Electronics.
Mike possesses a strong technical background, studying electrical engineering at Wentworth Institute of Technology.
Joerg Herbarth
Vice President of Product & Business Intelligence
Joerg Herbarth is Vice President of Product & Business Intelligence, responsible for providing management and leadership to the global illumynt value optimization team. Responsibilities include the analysis of sales processes and the development of reporting, dashboards, and metrics to provide business intelligence and insight that aid in the business decision-making process and development of new programs.
With a strong technical background and an affinity towards data science and machine learning, Joerg brings over 20 years of knowledge and experience working with global companies to help develop measurable value recovery programs that help solve complex reverse supply chain challenges.
Prior to joining illumynt, Joerg held the position of Sales Director at Reconext, as well as leadership positions at Teleplan International, Arrow Electronics, Sims Lifecycle Services, and Supply IT.
Joerg hold a degree from FH Ludwigshafen University, Germany, and is based in the illumynt European facility located in The Netherlands.
Aida Nutautas
Compliance & Sustainability Champion
Aida Nutautas is the Global Environment Health & Safety (EHS) Compliance Manager and Sustainability Champion at illumynt.
A highly skilled and knowledgeable Compliance Manager, Aida recognizes the importance of corporate compliance with environmental laws and regulations, sustainability reporting, quality management systems and global certifications.
Prior to joining illumynt, Aida held the position of Regulatory Compliance Manager at Union Specialties, QC Plant Chemist at Valspar, and other manufacturing and quality control positions.
Aida holds a master’s degree in polymer chemistry from the Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), Kaunas, Lithuania.
Nellie Zhang
Director of Sales – APAC Region
Nellie Zhang is Director of Sales – APAC, responsible for leading a team of professionals focused on technology sales and channel development in the Asia-Pacific region.
With extensive knowledge in global supply chain models, electronic components management and technology sales, Nellie brings over 20 years of experience working with companies of all sizes in developing new sales channels to drive the sustainable reuse of electronics and excess computer components.
Prior to joining illumynt, Nellie held the positions of Sales Manager, Commodity Manager and Senior Account Executive at Converge, an Arrow Electronics company.
Nellie possesses an MBA from the University of Birmingham, and a PhD in Economics from Cranfield University, United Kingdom.
