Dr. Benny Peña.
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HOUSTON—Texas State Optical (TSO), a member-owned cooperative consisting of more than 120 optical locations across Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, has announced the results of its recent election of directors and board officers.

Dr. Benny Peña of Fredericksburg, Texas, was elected chairman of the TSO board, according to the announcement earlier this week.

Other newly elected board members are: Dr. Alexander Chen of Houston, Dr. Jon House of Bryan, Texas; Dr. Reid Robertson of Allen, Texas, and Dr. Jonathan Sher of McKinney, Texas.

In addition, Dr. Mark Wright, president of Pathways to Success and professional editor of Review of Optometric Business, was elected as a non-shareholder member of the TSO board, according to the announcement. Wright also is an assistant clinical professor at The Ohio State University College of Optometry.



Past chairman of the board, Dr. Stephen Stanfield of San Marcos, Texas, also was re-elected to a new two-year term.

The moves were effective July 1. All new board members have participated in the TSO network for under a decade and they are “geared to embrace the future changes of the profession with their leadership,” TSO president John Marvin said in the announcement.

Wright fills the seat of former board member Jay Binkowitz, who is president of Farmingdale, N.Y.-based GPN. Wright will serve beside two additional non-shareholder board members, C. Edward Buffington, formerly of VSP Vision Care, and Jack V. Gunion, a partner at Motivity Capital Partners LLC.

In 2014, TSO’s board made a decision to dedicate three board positions to professionals in the industry from outside of the group of TSO shareholders. This is to provide the organization with an outside and more national perspective of the optometry and optical industries, according to the announcement.