FYI

FYI...

News Bits From the Industry

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Marchon Eyewear, Inc., announces an exclusive global licensing agreement with Columbia Sportswear to manufacture and distribute Columbia-branded sun and ophthalmic collections. The line will launch globally in September, and will include a technical line of Columbia PFG (Performance Fishing Gear) sunglasses. The collections will retail in Columbia stores, in quality sporting goods stores, as well as in select optical retail locations worldwide.

Marcolin Group and Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc., announce the early renewal of an exclusive license agreement for the design, manufacture, and worldwide distribution of Kenneth Cole New York and Kenneth Cole Reaction sun and optical eyewear. The partnership, which started in 2003, will be extended until December 2021.

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Kevin Cross has been promoted to vice president of sales, North America, for Schneider Optical Machines. Cross was previously director of sales, North America. He joined the company in 2011.

Kim Schuy has been appointed president of the Essilor Vision Foundation. She replaces Stephen Shawler, who has accepted a new role as vice president of ECP training and insights at Essilor of America. Schuy most recently was vice president of global marketing, sunwear.

Jeff Ravreby has joined Costa Sunglasses as eastern regional optical sales manager. He has previously held leadership positions with Silhouette Optical, adidas Eyewear, and Vuarnet.

Kenmark announces several promotions: Tenille Novinger, product coordinator since 2013, is now global brand manager; Dawn Ruiz, who has been with Kenmark since 1999, has been named product development manager; and Jason Wehlage has been promoted to director of product.

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Independent Doctors of Optometric Care (IDOC, LLC) has acquired PRIMA Eye Group, a consulting firm and optometric alliance. Dave Brown will serve as president and CEO of the merged group, and the senior management team will include Oliver Spandow, current CFO of IDOC, and Neil Gailmard, O.D., co-founder, president, and COO of PRIMA. Dr. Gailmard will serve as chief optometric officer of IDOC and will continue as president of PRIMA.

Costa Sunglasses announces its partnership with Rapala Australia as the exclusive distributor for the brand across Australia and New Zealand. Rapala is a distributor for fishing equipment, products, and apparel.

Rochester Optical has partnered with Hong Kong Optical Lens Company to bring its “Smart Solutions” for smart glasses to the Asian market. This partnership expands the global distribution for Rochester’s Smart GOLD lenses, frames, and accessories.

Santinelli International and NIDEK, Ltd., commemorate 25 years of their business alliance, the longest, continuous finishing equipment distributorship in the U.S. to date. It started in 1991, when NIDEK expanded from ophthalmic instruments to include lens finishing equipment manufacturing.

Motoki Ozawa, president and CEO of NIDEK, left, and Gerard Santinelli, president and CEO of Santinelli International, celebrate their long partnership

NEW LEADER AT LUXOTTICA WHOLESALE NA

Holly Rush has stepped away from her role as president, Luxottica Wholesale North America, the company reports. She had been with Luxottica for five years, two as president, NA wholesale. Fabrizio Uguzzoni, previously senior vice president of operations and finance, has been named to the position.

Fabrizio Uguzzoni

Uguzzoni has been a senior leader within the Luxottica organization for the past six years, and worked alongside Rush for the majority of that period. Before joining the NA wholesale team two years ago, Uguzzoni was the Group’s logistics director for three years, based in both Italy and Atlanta.

Holly Rush

Rush joined Luxottica in 2011 as senior vice president, sales. Under her leadership, sales grew to record numbers, according to a company statement. On Jan. 1, 2014, she was appointed president, wholesale, North America, succeeding Andrea Dorigo.