July 25, 2025 — Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) has announced that executive director Lois Schoenbrun, CAE (Retired), FAAO, will retire in December 2024. Formerly the executive director of the American Academy of Optometry, Schoenbrun took on the interim executive director role for OGS in April 2022.

A nationwide search for Schoenbrun’s replacement is underway. Information about the position is available here.

“Although the initial interim period was intended to be short, I believed so passionately in the mission and quickly saw what a tremendous difference OGS makes in [the] lives of people all over the world,” says Schoenbrun. “So, the ‘interim’ appointment turned into nearly two and a half years. And I have enjoyed every minute of it.”

At Vision Expo West 2023, EB caught up with Schoenbrun to discuss the OGS mission and how the organization is evolving.

“When Lois joined OGS, we knew that we were getting a seasoned, successful leader from the optometry community,” says OGS U.S. board chair Juan Carlos Aragón, O.D. “During Lois’s time here, OGS earned a four-star designation from the nonprofit assessment firm Charity Navigator.” Dr. Aragón shares it is the highest rating possible for a nonprofit.

“Under Lois’s leadership, we’ve strengthened the financial future of OGS, revised our vision and mission statement language to better align with the World Health Organization, and created additional staff positions to bring much-needed expertise in-house,” says chair of OGS’s Canada board, Susan Cooper, O.D.