Transitions Academy 2023 Showcases “Lights on Tomorrow”

Monday, June 12 2023 | 10 h 14 min | Events, News, Press Release

Transitions Academy 2023 brought together over 1,100 industry experts from 50 countries around the world at the J.W. Marriott Grande Lakes in Orlando, Fla. The three-day event themed “Lights on Tomorrow” provided industry professionals with the opportunity to expand their knowledge through expert presentations, inspiring guest speakers, and Transitions^® product and professional development workshops. The winners of the 2022 Transitions Innovation Awards were also announced during the event.

“Transitions Academy is always such an inspirational, high energy and happy moment bringing together forever fans and first timers from all over the world,” said Chrystel Barranger, president, Transitions Optical, and EssilorLuxottica Professional Solutions EMEA. “Today, the change acceleration is so fast, the tech disruption is so impressive that we wonder what tomorrow will be made of.  That’s why we have chosen to put a light on tomorrow, to see the possibility and best foresee our next moves.”   

Transitions and industry experts shined “Lights on Tomorrow” exploring the latest in the science of light, new color attitude, style avant-garde with the perfect pair, the future of phygital technology and learning and focused eyes on the planet and sustainability. Other speakers included:

• Federico Buffa, director, R&D and Product Development, EssilorLuxottica
• Brian O’Neill, vice president, Global Innovation, Technology & Operations, Transitions
• Coralie Barrau, innovation manager, R&D Light Management, EssilorLuxottica
• Jérôme Butez, vice president, Global Marketing, Transitions
• Tod Schulman, creative director, Pantone Color Institute
• Fahem Ben Messaoud, vice president, Global Digital, Business Innovation, E-commerce and IT, Transitions
• Denis Cohen-Tannoudji, senior vice president, Emerging Technologies, EssilorLuxottica
• Chris King, director, Education, Global Marketing, Transitions
• Isabelle Dekker, director, Business Development, Transitions
• Adrian Gleeson, director, Global Operations, Transitions

Throughout the two days, breakout courses were offered including:

• Transitions Glow Up: Lights on Customer Experience, Brooke Carrasco, O.D., EssilorLuxottica; Bidisha Rudra, Ph.D, M.A., senior managing director, Transitions commercial sales; Stephen Tackett, director, NAM channel, Transitions. This course showed how to Glow Up a practice by providing a complete picture of the education/training, in-store and digital merchandising tools that Transitions offers to create an elevated customer experience.
• Transitions Light Expert: Lights on Vision, Joshua Hazel, instrumentation technical services manager, Transitions; Pete Kehoe, O.D., Kehoe Eye Care; Lucie Laborne, global associate director, innovation marketing, Transitions. Attendees gained a deeper understanding of how light affects patients’ visual experiences, the underlying science behind these interactions, and how Transitions provides the innovative light management solutions your patients need.
• Transitions Stylist: Lights on the Perfect Pair, Chris King, marketing director, global education, Transitions; Jean-Gabriel Causse, writer, artist and designer, international specialist in color; Agnieszka Dubas, global brand experience manager, Transitions; Lucile Van Deuren, global associate director, brand activation & events, Transitions.  Attendees explored how colors influence our daily lives and discovered the power of Transitions as the center of the perfect pair—combining color, vision experience, protection and style—learning how to become a Transitions Stylist—an expert on creating flair for the perfect pair.
• The Transitions Brand Experience immersed attendees in Transitions products, the latest technologies, in-store experience and educational resources.
• Lights On Data: Making Numbers Come Alive, Shawn Devine, senior and master facilitator, Training Edge, explored the importance of understanding what data means and how to create an “audience-centric” story to make numbers come alive.​
• Lights on Building an Effective Team Dynamic, Rebecca Armacost, executive coach, expert facilitator, and senior faculty member, Leadership Development Institute at Eckerd College. This session explored what it means to “play to our strengths” and to learn what is right with us. The process of identifying strengths is the smallest thing we can do to make the biggest difference in productivity and fulfillment for individuals, teams and organizations.

Monday’s session concluded with a keynote “Light the Future: The Age of Infinity,” from disruption strategist Shawn Kanungo. Kanungo provided an optimistic roadmap for the future. He explored how we can take unexpected approaches to innovation, leveraging it to transform the way we communicate, collaborate, and revolutionize our industry.

Transitions Academy opened Tuesday morning with Chrystel Barranger hosting a talk with industry leaders including:

• Ernesto Diaz, president, Wholesale LATAM, EssilorLuxottica 
• Sherianne James, chief marketing officer, senior vice president, Wholesale North America, EssilorLuottica
• Igor Loshak, vice president, International Sales and Marketing, Younger Optics
• Fabrizio Ugozzoni, president, Wholesale North American, EssilorLuxottica

Anne-Sophie Carena, brand director, Global Marketing, Transitions and Rose Harris, senior director, North America Marketing, Transitions continued the general session by sharing key consumer and eyecare insights, showing how Transitions can be a strong partner to unleash the endless possibilities of the future.

Jacob Mann, director, National Retail Sales North America, Transitions, along with Transitions Academy host Miriam Isa, brought those insights into focus with personal stories and best practices from eyecare professionals from around the world in a talk show session “Lights On You,” featuring:

• Laurent Dosseville, commercial director, Europe, Transitions
• Didier Rosset, opticien, Rosset Opticiens, France
• Dr. Keith Smithson, optometrist, Norther Virginia Doctors of Optometry, and co-founder and partner, Sports Vision Pros, U.S.
• Chiara Pastorelli, Pastorelli Ottico, Italy
• ​​

• Camelia Hammiche, New Look, Canada

Tuesday’s curriculum concluded with a keynote from Michelle Poler, entrepreneur, brand strategist, author and founder of Hello Fears. Poler’s keynote, “Fear Less, Do More,” changed perceptions of fear and inspired action by learning how to prioritize and negotiate with our needs. Later that evening, Drew Smith, senior director, North America Channels Transitions and Miriam Isa lead the 2022 Transitions Innovation Awards ceremony, where the winners were announced.

Click HERE for the press release.