Maureen Cavanagh has been named President of the Vision Impact Institute, currently supported by Essilor.
The mission of the Vision Impact Institute is to raise awareness of the importance of healthy vision, including the socio-economic impact of Uncorrected Refractive Errors and quality of life benefits of visual correction.
The Vision Impact Institute provides a unique data-base featuring scientific research and peer reviewed studies directed to government policy-makers, industry leaders and influential advocates. Considering that at an annual cost of $16.1 billion, URE is the most costly eye condition in the United States.
The Vision Impact Institute is using evidence of this kind to reinforce the need for healthy vision, eye examinations and eye screenings with a provision for optical correction.
Cavanagh joined Essilor in October of 2005, as the Director of Definity lenses, launching the brand throughout the Essilor network following the acquisition of The Spectacle Lens Group.
Soon after, she was named Vice President of Integrated Retail, carving out a separate division and launching a new platform to specifically meet the needs of surfacing retail customers for Essilor.
In December 2009, Cavanagh was promoted to President of Nassau Vision Group and OOGP, overseeing several stock lens and contact lens distribution centers, along with a local digital lens laboratory, Nova and the Shore lens division.
In May 2012, Cavanagh was elected as the US representative for Essilor employee shareholders on the Valoptec Board of Directors. She was also nominated to represent Valoptec on the Essilor International Board of Directors.
Prior to Essilor, Cavanagh held various executive positions within the optical industry including Cohen’s Fashion Optical, Marine Optical and Johnson & Johnson Vision Care.
A 23-year veteran in the optical industry, Cavanagh is a certified optician and graduated from Bridgewater State University.