People

Matt MacDonald was promoted to president of EyeMed. Most recently serving as chief operations officer, MacDonald has been with the company since 2013 and brings more than 20 years of experience to his new role.

Dawn Mancuso, MAM, CAE, FASAE, was elected as president of the Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions. Mancuso currently serves as CEO and executive VP of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry.

The Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety named Ralph Kohl, who has nearly 20 years of health care advocacy and lobbying experience, as executive director.

Marchon Eyewear appointed Gabriele Bonapersona as chief brand officer and Gabriele Cappelli as chief product officer. Bonapersona brings more than 15 years of experience in the eyewear industry, 12 of which she spent at Marchon Eyewear. Cappelli most recently served as Marchon’s VP of global merchandising.

◄ Clara Magnanini has been named group communication director of Marcolin to lead the recently established communications department, where she will be responsible for corporate communication, marketing and digital communication, events, and Marcolin’s environmental, social, and governance management activities. Magnanini brings nearly two decades of communications experience from luxury and Italian-based companies.

The Vision Council (TVC) has announced new hires and promotions. Most recently serving as director of business development and special projects, Nathan Troxell takes on a new role as director of member services. Bonnie Whitfield, formerly the communications and community affairs supervisor at Choctawhatchee Electric Cooperative Inc., has joined TVC as senior manager of member communications. As membership administrative coordinator, Dawn Tullis will serve as the main point of contact for Opening Your Eyes, TVC’s scholarship fund. Tullis was most recently the membership and conference coordinator at the International Association of Suicide Prevention. Omar Elkhatib was promoted from manager to senior manager of government relations, having led the relaunch of TVC’s VisionPAC. Chelsea Pillsbury will lead TVC’s communications team as VP of marketing and communications. Kayleigh Tokash will support the marketing and communications team as communications coordinator. Vlad Gupan fills a new position within TVC’s research department as research manager, overseeing a selection of TVC’s inSights market research reports.

◄ VSP Vision has named Andy Skitmore chief revenue officer of the company’s global sales organization. Most recently, Skitmore was senior VP of sales in the Americas for Marchon Eyewear, where he served in a variety of senior leadership roles since joining in 1995.

Business Updates

Optical Resources Group hosted an open house and grand opening gala event at its Field of Dreams lab, its newest and largest independent wholesale optical lab, in Wichita, KS.

Awards

100% has received the 2022 Ispo Award for Design and Innovation for its Norg snow goggle.

Denis Sheynikhovich of the Institut de la Vision has been awarded the 10,000 euro Silmo Academy scholarship from Silmo Paris to fund his research into the impact of visual aging on mobility.

Miscellaneous

The World Council of Optometry and Alcon have launched an online resource that features on-demand webinars, regularly updated in-practice tools like clinical studies and white papers, a blog from the initiative’s faculty members, and other professional development resources.