fbpx

New Look Vision Group Named One of Canada’s Best Managed Companies

New Look Vision Group (“NVG”) has been recognized for overall business performance and sustained growth with the prestigious Canada’s Best Managed Companies and is part of the program’s 29 new winners.

Canada’s Best Managed Companies is one of the country’s most prestigious business awards programs, honouring Canadian-owned and managed businesses for creative, world-class management practices.

Judged by an independent panel made up of program sponsors’ representatives as well as special guest judges, companies with revenues exceeding $50 million that demonstrate leadership in 4 core business criteria, such as strategy, capabilities and innovation, culture and commitment, and financials to achieve sustainable growth are eligible for the 2022 Best Managed award.

NVG is the leading Canadian optical group and a prominent high-end optical retailer in the US. The group provides optometry and audiology services as well as optical and hearing care products. NVG was the first in Canada to enable remote optometry examination, allowing people to get access to an eye exam even when an optometrist is not available locally. It was the first eyewear retailer to sell glasses online that are of the same quality and precision as those sold in-store, thanks to its investment in a revolutionary facial scanning app that takes measurements for the production of high-quality glasses.

“New Look Vision Group receives this recognition distinction with humility and gratitude. We are a people-first company, striving on building diverse and empowered teams. We are grateful for this testament to our 3,200 team member’s commitment to making it easier for everyone to see and hear” said Antoine Amiel, President and CEO of New Look Vision Group.

The 2022 Best Managed Companies share commonalities including putting their people and culture at the forefront of their organization, focusing on their ESG policies, and doubling down on faster digitization.

Click HERE for the full press release.

CNIB Announces Measha Brueggergosman as New Brand Ambassador

CNIB announced that Canadian opera singer and concert artist Measha Brueggergosman will become the organization’s newest official brand ambassador.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Measha to the CNIB family,” says the charity’s Chief Operating Officer, Angela Bonfanti. “Measha is such an incredible Canadian talent. Her ability to connect us with new and distinct communities, alongside her desire to support and amplify the voices of Canadians with diverse lived experiences, will be critical in helping CNIB to continue to share our mission with more people than ever before.”

Measha Brueggergosman

Measha is a world-renowned opera singer, Juno award-winning recording artist, beloved personality, and television host. Throughout her career, she has recorded and performed several internationally award-winning jazz and gospel albums that have connected Canadians from coast to coast to coast through music. Alongside being a passionate advocate for the arts as essential to mental health, Measha also holds several honorary doctorates and ambassadorial titles with international charities.

“When I was first introduced to CNIB, I immediately knew that it would be a cause that would resonate strongly with me and with many other Canadians,” says Measha. “Blindness is an experience that crosses over all lines of intersectionality. It doesn’t know age, race, gender, or creed – and can affect anyone at any stage in their lives.

Through her involvement as one of CNIB’s two brand ambassadors – the other being television personality Ben Mulroney – Measha has been meeting with program leads across the country to listen and learn more about how she can best support and serve our community. Over the last few months, Measha has also already had the opportunity to participate in several CNIB programs in communities across Canada to both learn from and connect directly with members of the blind and partially sighted community.

Alongside learning more from the community, Measha hopes to build upon the historical success and impact of CNIB’s long running music programs – leveraging her passion, expertise and connections within the music community.

Click HERE for the full press release.

2022 SILMO d’Or Awards: A Multi-Cultural Jury President

Born in Namibia to a Belgian father and a Japanese mother, Jun Gobron grew up to be eager and curious about the world. After graduating from the Free University of Brussels (ULB) with an Economic Sciences degree and gaining a few years’ experience at multinational corporations, he decided to make a career transition and become an interior architect and designer.

Passionate about aesthetics, with an enthusiasm for creation and entrepreneurship, Jun Gobron then began studying at the École supérieure des Arts Saint-Luc of Brussels, which awakened his creative eye and innate sensibility.

That enabled him to reveal his talent as a “designer of lightness”, combining the simplicity and streamlining of Japan with the elaborate decoration of Europe.

With his unique, multicultural perspective and appetite for new aesthetic experiences, Jun Gobron is delighted to join the members of the jury as President, and to continue writing the history of the SILMO d’Or awards.

Click HERE for the full press release.

You CAN Afford an Optical Manager

By Wendy Buchanan

Many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of “I can do it myself!  Why would I pay someone to do this?” and as a business owner, I was certainly no exception to this way of thinking.

As I work closely with more optometrists, I notice a commonality of slow burnout as they try to run a business, provide comprehensive eye exams, manage their teams, and tackle all the administrative work that comes with this. 

Family time takes a hit. I have witnessed eye doctors spending their weekends reviewing and buying frame inventory. 

This may work for the short term but not when you want to build a sustainable business model. 

RPA.  What are your revenue producing activities?

As a practice owner, one of the best analyses you can do in your office is review your daily schedule for a week. Where are you spending your time? Are you buying your frame inventory, meeting with sales reps, paying bills, and spending time with other non-revenue producing tasks that you could delegate to your top manager or optician?

The business of optometry comes down to three variables:

1. Revenue per patient

2. Number of patients per day

3. Doctor hours per week

As an optometrist, what if you focused on revenue by increasing your doctors’ hours per week? This would ultimately increase the number of patients you serve per day. Then you provide training and empower your team to grow your revenue per patient with eyewear sales. 

What Would it Take to Pay Top Talent?

A managerial role can be promoted from within your existing talent pool, or you can attract someone new to your team to take the lead. If you have a driven and knowledgeable team member, this could be a great career promotion and it saves you bringing on a new team member. Promotions come with an increase in salary. Just sayin’!

Some practice owners shy away from paying top salaries for exceptional people as they get caught up with the annual compensation number. I have found that if we break this number down to monthly and weekly goals, it is manageable and makes more sense.


How much would you have to pay to have someone to take over the management and sales of your optical gallery? If the average optician/office manager is making $60,000 per year and your average eyeglass sale is $450.00, you would only need to sell 133 more pairs of glasses per year. That breaks down to 11pairs/month or 3 pairs per week just to break even.

But… it gets better than that. 

With the added time that you have in your schedule, you would be increasing your doctor days and the number of patients you serve. 

As a practice owner, if you added a half-day revenue producing Doctor Day per week to your schedule and you were able to see five patients for a comprehensive eye exam each day, you have just provided your key people with the opportunity to style and sell more eyeglasses to every patient added to your schedule.

If your practice is generating an industry average of $375/eye exam, you are now adding approximately $1900 per week in revenue. 

It’s Not Always about the Money!

Or is it? It would be short-sighted not to believe that compensation is important to many people. Strategic business plans include sales goals that cannot be met without people. 

Servers in the hospitality industry are rewarded through tips and the amount is typically indicative of the level of service they provide. Optometry sales is a service business and as such, your top talent should also be rewarded for driving the business and bottom-line profit in addition to their salary!

The Great Reflection

Attracting and retaining good employees is a real challenge right now. Call it the “Great Resignation “or call it the “Great Reflection”. Pay is not the only motivator. Through the pandemic people have done some soul searching with whether they feel valued in their jobs or are they only creating a successful business for someone else.

People are asking themselves, what makes me happy? What truly satisfies me? Am I enjoying my work?

A Gartner survey that included more than 3,500 employees found that 65% of people said the pandemic made them rethink the place that they work, and 56% said that they wanted to contribute more to society. 

Invest in Your Team

As employers, investing in your team members with a healthy salary and offering the opportunity to enhance their skill set are key motivating factors to have them want to work with you and want to stay working with you.

If people are going to make a move to your office, they want to be part of a practice that is making a difference and they want to know that they will have the tools and support to be successful in their job.

When your people are happy and compensated well, your business will be successful and may even exceed your sales goals. An investment in your team will have an immediate and long-term payback.

Check out the July-August issue of Optik magazine for Wendy’s article!

Study: Untreated Vision Impairment Associated with Dementia

Researchers have made a systematic review of over 76,000 older-aged subjects in 16 different studies to evaluate the association between vision problems and cognitive issues. 

The findings indicated that Vision Impairment (VI) was significantly associated with cognitive impairment and dementia in older adults.

Among individuals who had a sight problem, the incidence of cognitive impairment was 137% higher compared to those without vision impairment.

Persons with a vision problem at the start of an evaluation had a 41% higher risk of developing cognitive impairment and a 44% higher risk of dementia compared with those who did not.

The association, however, does not indicate any causal relationship.  

The study authors suggest that treatment of vision impairment through optical correction or cataract surgery could be beneficial for maintaining cognitive function. 

The authors conclude, “regular eye screening examinations are important for older adults to maintain both visual and cognitive function, especially for older adults with perception of VI in daily life.”

Study results were published in Aging and Mental Health, a peer-reviewed journal. The authors called out the need for future research and randomized clinical trials to determine how addressing older persons’ vision issues might better avoid dementia.

The article, entitled, “The association between vision impairment and cognitive outcomes in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis”,  is an open-access paper published May 2022.

Featured Posts

Voila November-December 2024 COS Dynamic_Dawn_5572

Urban Style for an Effortless Statement

Featuring nylor half-rim shapes on top, Silhouette’s Dynamic Dawn offers an understated look.

Learn More
Transitions Innovation Awards

Transitions Optical Now Accepting Submissions for the 2024 Transitions® Innovation Awards

Submissions due December 6, 2024

Read more
AAO American Academy of Optometry logo

AAO Recognized as a Cochrane Eyes and Vision (CEV) Center for Evidence-based Vision Care

The American Academy of Optometry (AAO) was recognized as a Cochrane Eyes and Vision (CEV) Center for Evidence-based Vision Care during Academy 2024 Indianapolis, November 6-9, 2024.

Read more
Vision Expo new logo

Registration Opens for Vision Expo East in Orlando, Florida 2025

New Location, Show Experience and Brand Identity Emphasizing Innovation, Fashion and Community

Read more
Ontario Opticians Association logo

An Important Message from the OOA

A letter from Jennifer Wicks, RO, Executive Director, Ontario Opticians Association

Read more
Voila November-December 2024 COS Dynamic_Dawn_5572

Urban Style for an Effortless Statement

Featuring nylor half-rim shapes on top, Silhouette’s Dynamic Dawn offers an understated look.

Learn More
Transitions Innovation Awards

Transitions Optical Now Accepting Submissions for the 2024 Transitions® Innovation Awards

Submissions due December 6, 2024

Read More
AAO American Academy of Optometry logo

AAO Recognized as a Cochrane Eyes and Vision (CEV) Center for Evidence-based Vision Care

The American Academy of Optometry (AAO) was recognized as a Cochrane Eyes and Vision (CEV) Center for Evidence-based Vision Care during Academy 2024 Indianapolis, November 6-9, 2024.

Read More
Vision Expo new logo

Registration Opens for Vision Expo East in Orlando, Florida 2025

New Location, Show Experience and Brand Identity Emphasizing Innovation, Fashion and Community

Read More
Ontario Opticians Association logo

An Important Message from the OOA

A letter from Jennifer Wicks, RO, Executive Director, Ontario Opticians Association

Read More
Voila November-December 2024 COS Dynamic_Dawn_5572

Urban Style for an Effortless Statement

Featuring nylor half-rim shapes on top, Silhouette’s Dynamic Dawn offers an understated look.

Learn More
Transitions Innovation Awards

Transitions Optical Now Accepting Submissions for the 2024 Transitions® Innovation Awards

Submissions due December 6, 2024

Read more
AAO American Academy of Optometry logo

AAO Recognized as a Cochrane Eyes and Vision (CEV) Center for Evidence-based Vision Care

The American Academy of Optometry (AAO) was recognized as a Cochrane Eyes and Vision (CEV) Center for Evidence-based Vision Care during Academy 2024 Indianapolis, November 6-9, 2024.

Read more
Vision Expo new logo

Registration Opens for Vision Expo East in Orlando, Florida 2025

New Location, Show Experience and Brand Identity Emphasizing Innovation, Fashion and Community

Read more
Ontario Opticians Association logo

An Important Message from the OOA

A letter from Jennifer Wicks, RO, Executive Director, Ontario Opticians Association

Read more
Voila November-December 2024 COS Dynamic_Dawn_5572

Urban Style for an Effortless Statement

Featuring nylor half-rim shapes on top, Silhouette’s Dynamic Dawn offers an understated look.

Learn More
Transitions Innovation Awards

Transitions Optical Now Accepting Submissions for the 2024 Transitions® Innovation Awards

Submissions due December 6, 2024

Read more
AAO American Academy of Optometry logo

AAO Recognized as a Cochrane Eyes and Vision (CEV) Center for Evidence-based Vision Care

The American Academy of Optometry (AAO) was recognized as a Cochrane Eyes and Vision (CEV) Center for Evidence-based Vision Care during Academy 2024 Indianapolis, November 6-9, 2024.

Read more
Vision Expo new logo

Registration Opens for Vision Expo East in Orlando, Florida 2025

New Location, Show Experience and Brand Identity Emphasizing Innovation, Fashion and Community

Read more
Ontario Opticians Association logo

An Important Message from the OOA

A letter from Jennifer Wicks, RO, Executive Director, Ontario Opticians Association

Read more