PEOPLE People By Staff Monday, September 12, 2016 12:45 AM Nick J. Manesis, PhD ReVision Optics Appoints Dr. Nick J. Manesis Vice President of R&D LAKE FOREST, Calif.—ReVision Optics, maker of the Raindrop Near Vision Inlay, has named Nick J. Manesis, PhD as vice president of R&D. Dr. Manesis brings nearly 30 years of materials research and development experience to the position, including at the leading ophthalmic companies Allergan and CooperVision. John Kilcoyne, ReVision Optics president and chief executive officer said, “Nick’s experience is highly relevant to our efforts to continue to advance the Raindrop Near Vision Inlay’s delivery systems as well as materials technology. Of note, his work at CooperVision and Allergan included biomaterials used in the manufacture of hydrogel contact lenses, corneal implants and other ocular lenses. The Raindrop Near Vision Inlay, a microscopic hydrogel inlay designed to correct presbyopia, received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval on June 29, 2016 and was set to be commercially launched in the U.S. in late August 2016. The Raindrop Near Vision Inlay is also approved in the European Union, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Dr. Manesis most recently was vice president at a specialty materials company Solaris Technology Group, where he was engaged in building out a technology platform for life science applications. Prior to that he served for five years as vice president, research and development at Allergan, where he led and managed U.S. and international R&D teams and had responsibilities for designing and building laboratories, hiring staff and forming systems and procedures. Cliff Gruschow Kong Ng Thomas Dale Aligned Growth Partners Names Three Senior Partners SANTA ROSA, Calif.—Global-reaching advisory, consulting and executive search firm Aligned Growth Partners, LLC, has named optical industry veterans Cliff Gruschow and Kong Ng as a senior partners with the firm. Gruschow will head the East Coast practice office from Richmond, Va., and Ng will lead the firm’s practice office in Adelaide, Australia. Gruschow has served as vice president and in various senior executive positions with industry-leading companies such as Essilor of America, Johnson & Johnson and SOLA International, Inc. (presently Carl Zeiss Vision), guiding manufacturing, engineering, operations and optical laboratory business units with sales ranging from $4 million to $30 million. Ng’s experience includes heading planning, manufacturing, operations and sales as well as complex multimillion dollar projects for SOLA international, Inc. and Carl Zeiss Vision. While with SOLA International, Inc., Kong led the planning and production ramp-up of optical and sunglass lenses factories in China. Subsequently while with Carl Zeiss Vision, he was instrumental in revamping the supply chain for Asia Pacific. The company has also named Thomas Dale as a senior partner with the firm. Dale will head the Southern California practice office from San Diego. Most recently, Dale served as chief human resources officer with the United Nations Mission in Liberia, and the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In addition, he has served as vice president and has held senior human resources executive positions for Pulse Electronics Inc., EMC Corporation, The Gillette Company and Denso International America. Dale was a corporate ethics officer and human resources advisor to the Compensation Committee of the board of directors of Technitrol, Inc. Josephine O. Owoeye, OD Kentucky College of Optometry Appoints Josephine O. Owoeye, OD, as assistant Clinical Professor PIKEVILLE, Ky.—Josephine O. Owoeye, OD, MPH, has joined the faculty at the University of Pikeville-Kentucky College of Optometry (KYCO) as an assistant clinical professor with a specialty in pediatric optometry and binocular vision. Owoeye earned her Doctor Of Optometry degree and completed residency training in pediatric optometry at the Salus University Pennsylvania College of Optometry. She earned a Master of Public Health degree at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Md. At KYCO, she will be teaching binocular vision, strabismus and oculomotor rehabilitation and pediatric optometry. Before moving to Pikeville, Owoeye was an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md., for nearly 12 years. Her clinic focused on the treatment of refractive errors and amblyopia, and assisting in the management of strabismus cases in children and adults.