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Tara Rosenzweig

PEOPLE

Charmant USA appointed Chris Allen as Southeast regional manager. Allen has more than 15 years of experience in the optical industry, most recently as a sales consultant for Essilor. Allen also previously held sales positions at the Charmant Group. Essilor of America appointed Colin St. Clair as vice president of brand sales. He will lead brand sales under the Customer Development Group. Prior to joining EOA, St. Clair served as vice president of business development at Pepsico, Inc. Nouveau Eyewear announced that Nicolas Gelabert was appointed as account director in its Mexico, South and Central America, and Caribbean territories. Joseph Tallier was recently appointed vice president of global sales for eyewear companies Scojo New York and Ogi. Tallier previously served as the chief operating officer and vice president of sales and marketing at Modo. Santinelli International announced that Rick Noonkester has been promoted to Western regional sales manager. In addition, the company welcomes Matt Brown, who is responsible for sales in the Mountain states.

Charmant USA's Chris Allen Nouveau Eyewear's Nicolas Gelabert Santinelli's Rick Noonkester

AWARDS

John Alofs recently received Erie Community College's Distinguished Alumni Award. He is a 1981 graduate of the college's ophthalmic dispensing program. In 1986, Alofs created his own company, Eyewear by R.O.I., which licenses the Bulova and B.U.M. Equipment names.

John Alofs (center right) received an alumni award from Erie Community College

VSP Vision Care announced that the first of four buildings on its Rancho Cordova, Calif., campus has earned platinum certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—Existing Buildings (LEED-EB), the highest level possible.

Essilor of America, Inc., announced the recipients of its 2008 Essilor Optical Technology Grants: State University of New York College of Optometry received $20,000 to provide equipment for its ophthalmic optics teaching lab; Northeastern State University College of Optometry received $20,000 for hardware and computers for its clinics; and Illinois College of Optometry received $20,000 for its "EyePod" ophthalmic optics teaching lab.

ClearVision Optical was recently honored by the Association for Fundraising Professionals, which presented ClearVision with the Outstanding Corporation Award for the company's philanthropic efforts to the Long Island community.

BUSINESS UPDATES

Sunstar Optical in Las Vegas has relocated and upgraded its wholesale lab facility. Now located at 5960 Edmond Street, the new lab is 5,800 square feet and offers full service with in-house AR and mirror coating capabilities.

The Lighthouse International Schupf Lectureship was held on January 16 at New York University School of Medicine as part of Macula 2009. Alan Bird, MD, a pioneer in ophthalmic research and teaching, spoke about the role of retinal pigment epithelial dysfunction in retinal disease. In attendance were Donald J. D'Amico, MD, professor and chairman of ophthalmology at Weill Cornell Medical College; Tara A. Cortes, RN, PhD, president and CEO of Lighthouse International; and Lawrence A. Yanuzzi, MD, professor of clinical ophthalmology at Columbia University Medical School and founder and president of The Macula Foundation, Inc.

Don D'Amico, Alan Bird, Tara Cortes, and Lawrence Yanuzzi at Macula 2009