> Michael Knight Receives 4th Annual Tobin Bridge Award at 2023 ERA Conference

ERA Chairman of the Board – Chuck Tanzola; Endried International, CEO and President – Michael Knight; ERA Board President – John O’Brien

The Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) announced that Michael Knight, president and CEO of Endries International, is the recipient of the fourth annual Tobin Bridge Award. The award was presented by ERA Chairman of the Board Chuck Tanzola and ERA Board President John O’Brien on February 28, 2023 during the 2023 ERA Conference in Austin, Texas.

The Tobin Bridge Award is presented annually to an individual who reaches across to “bridge” the various constituent components of the electronics industry — reps, manufacturers and distributors — while advancing the rep function.

“This is pretty cool; thank you very much,” said Knight, upon receiving the award. “In a way this feels very fitting and very comfortable because in the course of my 30-plus years in this industry, I’ve been a rep, a distributor and a component manufacturer. So I have all three of those perspectives and I literally bring those into play every day of my life.”

“Michael is our Nostradamus!” said Walter Tobin, CEO of ERA. “He has been the closing general session speaker at our ERA Conference for the past six years. No one dares to leave their seat for fear of missing Michael’s wealth of knowledge and riveting presentation.”

“He continues to build a bridge between the reps, manufacturers and the distributors,” continued Tobin. “His ‘all-in’ approach leaves no one out – he touches all of the right bases and puts our world into a nice package for all of us to better understand. He is simply amazing.”

Knight was named president and chief executive officer of Endries International in November 2022 and before that held various leadership positions at TTI, Inc., for 18 years. He has worked in the electronic components industry since the mid-1980s. In addition to his various positions at TTI, Inc., he has worked for a number of distributors and component manufacturers, including a manufacturers’ rep firm in Northern California. He has held a variety of national and global leadership roles in sales, marketing, operations and general management in both private and public companies.