Holly Rush, Luxottica's new president Wholesale North America.

MILAN and NEW YORK—Luxottica [NYSE: LUX] has announced today the appointment of Holly Rush to the position of president Wholesale North America, effective Jan.1, 2014.

In her new role, Holly will oversee Luxottica’s wholesale distribution network in both the U.S. and Canada. She will report to Paolo Alberti, executive vice president of Wholesale.

Rush succeeds Andrea Dorigo, "who has decided to pursue new professional opportunities outside of Luxottica," the statement said.

Over the past four years, Luxottica said, "Dorigo led the Wholesale North America organization through a major transformation, re-energizing the group around a common vision and building an excellent team to take the business to new heights. Luxottica is extremely grateful for Andrea’s legacy of industry collaboration and partnership."

Rush joined Luxottica as senior vice president sales in March 2011 after having spent nearly two decades in a variety of sales leadership roles with major blue chip companies, most recently with L’Oreal. Rush "was part of the diversified leadership team established by Dorigo in 2011 and worked closely with him since then to architect the growth and expansion of the business," the company said, adding, "Under her leadership, sales grew to record levels and significant service improvements were made."

In 2012, Rush was named as one of Vision Monday's Most Influential Women in Optical.

“While we are sad to see Andrea move on to a new role outside Luxottica, we want to express great appreciation for his leadership and significant contributions to the company and we wish him every success in his future endeavors," said Alberti.

He added, "At the same time, we are excited to support Holly in this very important role. She is a passionate leader and a strong business driver and her skills are well suited to continue the transformational journey started three years ago and to help us take Luxottica to the next level.”