Sept. 18, 2020 — The Vision Council (TVC) announced the launch of a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force.
Serving as part of the organization’s recent brand restructuring focused on community-building and industry growth, the announcement follows TVC’s unveiling of a redesigned logo and new website.
Comprised of 13 vision care community leaders, the task force was created to “amplify and embrace everyone’s voice within all segments of the vision industry in order to push forward a more equitable agenda for the eyewear and eyecare industry and to build a more diverse and inclusive community. The task force will be charged with developing dynamic programming and community initiatives and also identifying goals for the industry in order to provide actionable pathways for members to access,” shares the company.
Task force members include:
- Derrick Artis, O.D. – management consultant at Artis Consulting
- Lanard Atkins – opticianry program diector at Georgia Piedmont Technical College
- Diana Canto-Sims, O.D. – co-founder at Buena Vista Optical and Designer at La Vida Eyewear
- Gai Gherardi – co-founder at l.a.Eyeworks
- Rebecca Giefer – CEO, Americas at Modo Eyewear
- Millicent Knight, O.D. – senior vice president of customer development group at Essilor
- Blake Kuwahara – president and CEO of Focus Group West and creative director of Blake Kuwahara Eyewear
- Howard Purcell, O.D. – president and CEO at New England College of Optometry
- Danielle Richardson, O.D. – independent optometrist at Optometrix
- Tiffany Smith – regional director of doctor recruitment at National Vision
- Phernell Walker – director of optometric relations at VSP Ventures
- Kyly Zak Rabin – co-founder at Zak.
- Christine Yeh – executive editor at 20/20 Magazine
The launch of the task force builds upon TVC’s recent efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the industry. In 2019, TVC conducted one of the first studies of diversity in leadership for the optical industry, the results of which were intended to benchmark the optical leadership landscape and illuminate the opportunities companies have to promote diversity, cultivate talent, and improve their performance.
TVC shared these results at the annual Executive Summit in January 2020, marking an important starting point in gathering information and data that would allow the company to help foster a more inclusive vision care community.
TVC and Vision Expo also dedicated its recent Virtual EYE2EYE Series “Coffee Talk” conversations to the theme of “Open Your Eyes” and discussed the current state of diversity and inclusion in the industry and what is needed to build a more equitable agenda in eyecare.
Details on additional upcoming Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives and programming will be announced in the coming months.