ATLANTA—Energeyes has partnered with SECO International to co-locate its East Coast Regional Meeting with SECO 2016 to be held Feb. 24 to 28, 2016.

“We will be offering a day of corporate-affiliate-based topics and education. Sunday will be a day for corporate optometrists to attend, and this day will complement the previous day’s educational offerings,” Energeyes’ executive director, Michael Porat, told VMail. “SECO's educational offering is significantly enhanced over the offer we could put together. In the future, you will also see more and more qualified corporate-affiliated ODs as speakers.” Energeyes will also hold its board meeting at SECO 2016, and all Energeyes members will receive a $50 SECO member discount to attend the SECO 2016 Congress.

“This is the first time SECO and Energeyes have partnered to co-host a meeting,” according to a statement from SECO International, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Southern Council of Optometrists, Inc., and host of the annual SECO Congress, which regularly attracts more than 7,000 national and international eyecare professionals, vendors and allied ophthalmic personnel to Atlanta. As part of the agreement, both organizations will work together to promote both the Energeyes East Coast Meeting and the SECO 2016 Congress to their respective members and potential members.

SECO has similar partnerships with the Armed Forces Optometric Society and the College of Optometrists in Vision Development, both of which also co-locate their meetings with the SECO Congress.

“We are excited about this new partnership and consider it an opportunity to bring new groups, such as Energeyes, to our annual congress,” said Stan Dickerson, OD, president of SECO International. “Forming partnerships like this is one of our strategic goals to not only strengthen participation at our congress but to benefit both organizations by providing greater value to optometrists everywhere.”

Energeyes Association president, Mark J. Uhler, OD, said, “We are delighted with the SECO partnership. This will strengthen our educational offerings nationally and as a result, we will be moving our 2016 Energeyes National Meeting to Sept. 23 to 25, 2016, to accommodate the SECO meeting.”

An association of corporate-affiliated optometrists, Energeyes has grown to 514 members. “We seek to collaborate with and support other groups as they seek to support and work with our members. This is a great example of what is possible,” Porat concluded about this partnership with SECO.