NEW YORK— The Optical Women’s Association (OWA) has selected Jobson Optical Group’s Marge Axelrad as its 2013 Pleiades award recipient to be honored at the OWA’s annual event at a to-be-named New York venue, on Friday, March 15 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. “As the OWA celebrates its 15 year anniversary, we couldn’t have selected a better Pleiades award winner than Marge Axelrad; a driving force in growing the OWA into the organization it is today,” said Ann Englert, OWA president.

Axelrad is the senior vice president and editorial director of the Jobson Optical Group, responsible for the overall direction of Vision Monday, VMail newsletters, VisionMonday.com and special events such as the VM Global Leadership Summit. Axelrad was part of the OWA 15 years ago as one of its founding members. Since the beginning, she was instrumental in reaching out to the industry for involvement and sponsorships, and as part of the Program Committee, helped create programs such as the Pleiades award events. Using her journalism expertise, Axelrad helped the fledgling organization with its marketing and communication efforts, later joining the Professional Development Fund and Nominating committees.

“This is an honor that’s very meaningful to me, personally and professionally,” said Axelrad. “The OWA was developed to bring networking and development opportunities to the wide range of women who make contributions in all of the many facets of the optical industry and vision care profession. It’s very exciting to watch OWA become 15-years-strong.”

The Pleiades award is named after the star cluster "The Pleiades" in the constellation of Taurus. The Pleiades is also known as the "Seven Sisters" - referring to the seven brightest stars in the cluster.

The Optical Women’s Association is a non-profit organization founded in 1997 with the mission of supporting and promoting the professional development of women in the optical industry. Projects and programs include the Professional Optical Women’s Workshop, providing women in the optical industry with personal and professional growth opportunities; networking events at both Vision Expo East and West; and the annual Pleiades award.

The OWA’s 2012 professional development fund sponsors include:

Platinum Sponsors: Marchon, Safilo USA.

Gold Sponsors: Altair Eyewear, Charmant, Essilor, Jobson Optical Group and REM Eyewear.

Silver Sponsors: Carl Zeiss Vision, ClearVision, Eyefinity, The Hoya Free-Form Company, L’Amy America, Shamir, The Vision Council and Transitions.

Friends of OWA: Tura Inc.