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Allen Nightingale Appointed President of Centennial Optical

Allen Nightingale has been appointed to the role of President of Centennial Optical Limited, the independent, family-owned distributor of ophthalmic frames and lenses, sunglasses, contact lenses and lens coatings. Nightingale takes on the responsibilities in the wake of the sudden passing earlier this week of Centennial’s President Steve de Pinto.

Nightingale is a 39-year veteran of the optical industry who joined Centennial as a sales representative in 1979, upon graduation from Toronto’s York University. Over the years, his responsibilities have spanned marketing, product, licensing, key accounts and sales strategy. His previous positions at the company included frames sales manager, director of frame sales and, most recently vice president.

Noted Nightingale, “In the last twelve years as vice president at Centennial, I had the privilege and joy, with our desks literally beside each other, of working side-by-side with Steve de Pinto.” He added, “Steve and I always anticipated a transition one day; unhappily, that day has come under the saddest conditions. We have a plan in place to continue the great legacy that Roger de Pinto, our founder had started in 1967 and that Steve has left us in 2018.”

Stated Roger de Pinto, Chairman of Centennial, “We have every confidence that Allen will continue building and growing Centennial with a continued focus on our people, our vendor partners and, of course, our loyal customers.”

Source: Centennial Optical

Elegant and Unique Iconic Cat-Eye Frame

Style 20028 K: Morel has named its women’s collection after a rare flower from the islands of Oceania: Koali. This collection is inspired by the subtle lines and rich colours of the world that surrounds us. The shape of a leaf, the quivering of a petal, and the vibrant hues of a flower are just some of the many sources of inspiration used to design the Koali collection.

The new frames of the Koali collection boast real vintage flair, in particular thanks to their 1960’s style butterfly designs. The panto or rectangular metal frames come in sizes S to L and feature a gorgeous nylon arch.

This nylon, with its cat-eye design and tinted, transparent hue, provides the frames with a touch of originality. As for their colour, here we find two of the flagship trends of women’s fashion:

– powdered pinks and browns for a nude finish

– sharper tones (green, burgundy, purple and black) for a more pronounced cat-eye look.

Distributed by Lanctôt: www.rlanctot.com

Essilor Canada Sponsors Inauguration of New Clinic

Essilor Canada sponsored the inauguration, on October 29, of the new Clinique universitaire de la vision of the University of Montreal’s School of Optometry. With 31 examination rooms, 12 specialty modules, 3 clinical research rooms and imaging units, the clinic offers exceptional workplace, training and care in a patient-partner approach.

As part of its partnership with University of Montreal’s School of Optometry, which has been going on since 1991, Essilor Canada helps the School of Optometry in the continuous improvement of its facilities through important monetary contributions.

On the picture, from left to right: Nathalie Boisvert, Marion Aymon and Louise Tanguay from Essilor, Dr. Christian Casanova, Director of the School of Optometry, Dr. Guy Breton, Rector of University of Montreal, Sarah Latendresse, Terry Psiharis and Raymonde Pigeon from Essilor.

Click HERE
for the full press release.

Katharina Schlager Withdraws from Her Active Position at ANDY WOLF EYEWEAR

Katharina Schlager, founding member and shareholder, most recently Creative Director and CEO of the Austrian eyewear company ANDY WOLF EYEWEAR, is withdrawing from the operative business at her own request, but remains a shareholder.

Together with Andreas Pirkheim and Wolfgang Scheucher, Katharina Schlager founded ANDY WOLF EYEWEAR in 2006 and was most recently the Creative Director and CEO. ANDY WOLF EYEWEAR is based in Hartberg, Austria and available in 69 countries at selected specialist opticians and fashion stores. Alongside the headquarters in Hartberg with neighbouring factory, a further factory in Jura in France was acquired in 2016. The subsidiary ANDY WOLF, North America was founded with its headquarters in New York in the same year. A creative office was opened in Berlin in 2017 and the expansion of the headquarters in Hartberg was completed in 2018.

Click HERE for the full press release.

Essilor Gathers 700 Mitra Mata Together in Indonesia for the First Time

Essilor’s inclusive business, 2.5 New Vision Generation (2.5 NVG),​ hosted its first ever Mitra Mata Convention in Indonesia which saw over 700 Mitra Mata come together to share best practices and to celebrate their achievements.

To improve the quality of primary vision care in Indonesia, Essilor’s inclusive business 2.5 New Vision Generation (2.5 NVG), created the Mitra Mata program to organize and strengthen the existing primary eye care industry. The program aims to raise awareness about the importance of eye care, provide access to quality affordable vision care in rural Indonesia and offer the opportunity for existing self-trained primary eye care providers to further professionalize their services.

The first Mitra Mata Convention took place in Medan, the capital of Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, ​and the level of energy, motivation and excitement was incredible. Essilor CEO, Hubert Sagnieres, and Essilor Chief Mission Officer, Jayanth Bhuvaraghan, officially opened the convention by banging a gong to welcome everyone. Individual Mitra Mata shared their inspiring stories and 2.5 NVG representatives from China and India provided useful information and insights on their local programmes such as Vision Ambassador and Eye Mitra. Guests were entertained by stunning local folk dances and musical performers which saw the 700 Mitra Mata and other guests dancing in the aisles and on the stage – a fitting end to a fantastic celebratory day.

This was a great moment for Essilor’s inclusive business 2.5 New Vision Generation as it shows how the Group managed to adapt its programmes to the local market and scale them up successfully. By professionalizing the existing infrastructure, we will create a taskforce of skilled micro-entrepreneurs that will help us to eradicate poor vision in Indonesia within the next 30 years.

2.5 NVG supports the cost of the training and helps Mitra Mata Opticians to set up their stores with specialist business training, merchandising and marketing materials. By the end of 2018 there will be 1,200 Mitra Mata providing quality affordable vision care in Indonesia.

Source: Essilor

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