People

ABB Optical Group has announced a series of organizational changes and additions to its executive and senior leadership team: Erika Jurrens was appointed as chief customer officer to lead the recently established office of customer experience, having recently served as senior vice president and general manager of the company’s business solutions pillar; Andrew Watt will act as director of customer experience, bringing more than 20 years of customer service experience to his new role; James Gilchrist has joined as general manager and senior vice president for ABB’s business solutions pillar, most recently serving as president of retail and chief transformation officer for the U.S. market at WS Audiology; Jordan Burke has joined as vice president of digital e-commerce, bringing 17 years of experience in senior-level roles in technology companies; and Mark Parisi brings more than 20 years of experience to the newly created role of chief revenue officer, most recently serving as chief revenue and marketing officer at National Dentex. 

Morel has welcomed Zachary Milam as the national sales director. Milam recently served as the national sales manager at Etnia Barcelona and previously spent eight years with Europa.

Olivia Bartlett has joined the Optical Training Institute as an industry consultant, bringing her more than 40 years of industry experience, which includes serving as president of both the Opticians Association of America, where she remains an active board member, and the Opticians Association of Massachusetts. She also formerly served as chief operating officer at Todd Rogers Eyewear.

Schneider Optical Machines appointed Shannon Toler as sales manager, central and eastern U.S. Toler brings more than 20 years of experience in the optical industry, most recently serving as territory manager for IOT for eight years.

Dr. Juan Carlos Aragón has been appointed as chief executive officer and executive director of Visioneering Technologies Inc. Dr. Aragón brings more than 30 years of eyecare industry experience to his new role, most recently serving as president of CooperVision.

Business Updates

For the advertising campaign of NovaKone custom soft contact lenses, Bausch + Lomb has earned a Silver Addy from the Philadelphia chapter of the American Advertising Federation in the “Integrated Best Branded Content Campaign” category.

Independent lab Three Rivers Optical has doubled its job capacity by installing a new production line that enables turnaround times of less than three days, according to the company. Three Rivers Optical will now offer in-house manufacturing of the full suite of Kodak products as well as Shamir’s Glacier Plus AR coating.

Awards

CooperVision research fellow Arthur Bradley, Ph.D., has been inducted into the Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science at the University of California, Berkeley, Hall of Fame, along with 20 other UC Berkeley alumni and faculty who received the honor in recognition of their significant contributions to optometry. CooperVision shares that Dr. Bradley’s research helped advance the field of myopia control and management, particularly in relation to the company’s MiSight 1 day contact lenses.

VSP Vision recognized seven optometry students at the 2023 National Optometric Association Convention: Azalia Roach and Mihret Girum earned the inaugural Empowering Equity Scholarship for $15,000 each, and Khaliah Knighten, Babirekere Bakama, Laura Medina, Daniele Ewert, and Isa Prude each earned $4,000 through the Dr. Marvin Posten Leadership Award.