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NEW YORK—Conscientious. Dedicated. Passionate. Innovative. These words describe women who have made professional strides in many fields, including those that compose the vision care and optical arenas.

At Vision Monday, through the initiation of our “Most Influential Women in Optical” reports nine years ago, we’ve long been committed to recognizing the very diverse and distinct contributions made by women working in businesses which range from suppliers to retailers, from laboratories and the eyecare professions, from management to operations, from entrepreneurs to mentors.

Once again, we’re also gratified at the huge response we received from VM’s readers to our annual call for nominations. It’s always enlightening to learn about those women in the vision care community who have been singled out for recognition by their peers, colleagues and staffs.

In this the 9th year of VM’s signature Annual “Most Influential Women” report we once again segmented our nominees into four distinct categories that highlight the individual strengths of each of the women selected.

• Executive Suite: Candidates are women who hold positions such as president, VP, CEO, CFO, CMO, CIO or COO that guide their companies forward, inspire leadership among their teams and peers and achieve high performance.
• Mentors: Candidates are women who are team builders, developers of talent, who via example or education and training successfully influence others to learn and to grow in their business or professional acumen.
• Rising Stars: Candidates are women who are “up-and-comers” in their careers and within their companies or arenas within the industry; sharp talents who are on their way toward higher levels of responsibility and influence.
• Innovators: Candidates are women who have initiated new product developments or special programs in the arena of marketing, technology or retail, who have spearheaded innovative business ideas or enterprises.

We hope you enjoy reading their profiles of accomplishment as VM shines the spotlight on women who make a difference in the dynamic realm of optical.

Please visit www.visionmonday.com to review an alphabetical listing of past years’ honorees and to read prior years’ Special Reports. ■

–The Editors