Latest News Essilor of America Announces Management and Organizational Changes By Staff Wednesday, January 4, 2017 12:27 AM (L to R) Mike Atkinson, Rick Gadd and Steve Nussbaumer. DALLAS—Essilor of America (EOA) announced several leadership and organizational changes that it said are aimed at “improving and innovating operations, expanding lab partnerships with ECPs and increasing business with retail, managed care and consolidated ECP groups.”Mike Atkinson has been appointed senior vice president, industrial operations, a new role designed to optimize the manufacturing and supply chain systems across Essilor’s entire North American footprint, the company said. Atkinson is responsible for improving customer experience in terms of service, product quality and turn time; and developing and implementing new and innovative operational models. He reports to EOA president Eric Leonard.Atkinson, who joined EOA in October 2016, came from Abbott Laboratories, where, through progressive roles, he led global supply chain, sourcing, OEM and third party distribution centers for their $1.2B vision care business unit. Prior to Abbott, Atkinson was a consultant and held global executive-level roles in industry with P&L responsibilities focused on go-to-market strategies.Rick Gadd has been named president, Essilor Lab Group, and will focus on developing the company’s business with independent eyecare professionals (ECPs). Gadd joined Essilor in 2011 and most recently led the retail and managed care, integrated independents, safety, IDD (Independent Distribution Division), Classic Optical and KBco groups. While in this role, Gadd and his team produced consistent results including long-term lab and supply agreements with multiple key accounts. The integrated independents and safety teams will continue to report to him.Steve Nussbaumer has been named senior vice president and general manager, key accounts and will be responsible for retail, managed care, and the key account strategies and solutions team, as well as consolidated regional ECP groups. Nussbaumer rejoined Essilor of America several years ago as president, Essilor Lab Group, after two years as country vice president, U.K. and Ireland, and one year as vice president, European marketing. He led the transformation of the Essilor Lab organization that resulted in a 20-point improvement in service levels to ECPs. Nussbaumer initially joined EOA in 2004 as marketing director for the lab group.“As Essilor continues to grow and evolve, it is important to continue developing our employees to facilitate this growth, meet our business needs and support our mission of improving lives by improving sight,” Leonard explained. “These organizational moves will continue to reinforce our focus on the key business segments and provide new opportunities for our team as well.”