We are a privately-held corporation based in Atlanta, Georgia. Our executive team has led both small and large firms from inception through public offering or acquisition. We take pride in our customer-focused culture and have built a world-class team of the brightest business and technical leaders in the global display industry. The team’s experience ranges from fundamental research to product development, component design, manufacturing and final assembly. Combined, the team holds more than 200 patents in display technologies.

Richard Cope, CEO

Richard ‘Rick’ Cope is an award-winning visionary with over 25 years of leadership experience and results. A successful CEO, President, CTO, COO, Combat Commander, Venture Capitalist, and Fundraiser, he has successfully led numerous companies from varying stages of research and development to sustainable revenue.

A retired Marine Corps Officer (Special Ops Advisor to Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf for Desert Storm, head of Marine Corps Missile R&D), Rick has put his Marine Corps training to good use by delivering that same determination and persistence to his professional career endeavors.

Rick’s unique blend of vision and operational excellence has been acknowledged by a variety of prestigious institutions. Under his leadership, NanoLumens has been awarded a Termans in the Breakthrough Technology category by TechAmerica, named a Top Ten Innovative Company and presented a Spirit of Endeavor Award by the Technology Association of Georgia and was runner-up in the Wall Street Journal’s Worldwide Innovation Award just to name a few.

He is also an avid contributor in the area of micro-lending in underdeveloped countries, partnering with organizations such as Opportunity International.

Karen Robinson, EVP of Business Development

Karen oversees new business development and strategic partnership activities for NanoLumens. She has been instrumental in the planning, strategy and growth of NanoLumens.

Karen is a serial entrepreneur who has been CEO of four different high-growth, venture or angel-backed companies over the last 20 years. Most recently, Karen was president and CEO of Prime Point Media, one of the largest alternative out of home advertising companies in the United States which she successfully led to a lucrative exit when it was acquired by a publicly traded company in 2006.  Prior to Prime Point, Karen was chairwoman, president and CEO of Enrev Corporation, a technology company that was acquired in 2001.

She has been recognized by Atlanta-based Women in Technology when she won its Woman of the Year in Technology Awards in 2000.  She was also named to Wireless Weekly’s list of top 20 Women in the wireless industry. Karen is a frequent speaker at both the regional and national levels and she has spoken at MIT, Georgia Tech, Harvard and Emory Universities.  She is also an investor and board member at numerous private and public companies in the United States and Canada.  Her passions are her family and her involvement in micro-lending in both Sub-Saharan Africa and Central America.

John Kahn, CFO

John leads the NanoLumens finance function and has more than 25 years of strategic international financial experience that includes CFO roles at a variety of NASDAQ listed, private equity owned and venture capital backed companies.  He is an accomplished and highly networked CFO who is experienced in working with technology focused companies, both domestically and internationally. In addition to financial matters, John also has significant experience managing legal, human resource and information technology functions.

Most recently John was CFO of TeamStaff, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSTF), where he helped the Company become a top-performing micro-cap stock and led a public offering.  John started his career with Arthur Andersen in the United Kingdom, before transferring to Silicon Valley, where he was part of Andersen’s Global High Technologies Industry Team.  John then became CFO of various publicly traded, private equity and venture capital backed companies, achieving over 50% IRR for his investors.

A Certified Public Accountant, John is additionally a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, a Chartered Global Management Accountant and a Certified Information Technology Professional.  He is currently President of the Atlanta Chapter of the Association of Chartered Accountants in the United States (ACAUS) and a member of the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG).  John is also a past president of the Technology Executives Round-table (TER) and has a Bachelor of Science (Economics) degree from the University of Wales.

Brad Childress, EVP Sales & Marketing

Brad leads the Nanolumens sales and marketing teams, including the Nanolumens channel sales efforts.  He brings over 25 years of sales and marketing experience in high-tech industries.

Most recently Brad was a partner with TechCXO, an executive professional services firm. At TechCXO he helped large and small technology companies accelerate their sales efforts through sales process design, territory, account and opportunity planning and high-impact go-to-market strategies.

Prior to TechCXO, Brad was EVP Sales and Marketing for nuBridges, where under his leadership the company met all sales goals for the various lines of business in 2010 and was able to complete a strategic sale to Liaison Technologies in 2011.

Before that Brad was the President and COO of The Complex Sale and was responsible for all company operations globally, also he was a high achieving General Manager, VP Marketing and sales manager at MSA/D&B Software.

Brad is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Industrial Management.

Paul Schaefer, Vice President of Operations

Paul Schaefer serves as the Vice President of Operations for NanoLumens. His experience has earned him numerous awards in the areas of project implementation and customer care. In his position at NanoLumens he continues to be instrumental in shaping the growth and planning of the company through project developments and vendor relationships.

Paul’s experience includes positions at CMD Group (later renamed Reed Construction Data), IntelliTrans, and Wireless Extenders where he established Customer Care teams, National Call Centers, and CRM Solutions that are still in place today.  Paul also held various positions at GE Capital Technology Management services (GETMS) in the areas of Operations, Process Improvement, Quality, and Six-Sigma.  During this time he received his Master Black Belt certification and became a part of a small team that established the Six-Sigma program at GETMS and was also a member of the GE Quality Council.

Paul proudly served in the US Navy as an Electronics Technician and Naval Instructor, and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Connecticut.