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2002
VisionWeb to Link with OfficeMate
December 19, 2002 | Return to the Top
AUSTIN, Texas--In its first affiliation with a practice-management system, VisionWeb, the provider of Internet tools to eyecare professionals, is partnering with OfficeMate Software Solutions, Under their agreement, users of OfficeMate’s new version 4.0 who are VisionWeb members will be able to automatically transfer patient information from their OfficeMate program directly to VisionWeb for online Rx-lens and frame ordering. VisionWeb will begin testing the OfficeMate connection with a limited number of ECPs beginning in January; a full rollout of the joint program is planned by the end of 2003’s first quarter. OfficeMate parent Marchon Eyewear is an equity partner in VisionWeb, as are Essilor of America, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care (NYSE: JNJ), Advanced Medical Optics (NYSE: AVO), and Jobson LLC, parent of Vision Monday.
Vision Monday Volume Number: 16:22 Issue: 12/19/2002
Jeff Saddington Named VisionWeb COO
August 8, 2002 | Return to the Top
AUSTIN , TX --VisionWeb has named Jeff Saddington its new COO. Saddington completes the management team at VisionWeb, which includes Jacques Stoerr, who recently became president/CEO; Eric Muzy, VP/chief technology officer; and Jim Vitkus, VP/chief marketing officer.
Saddington has more than 30 years of global health-care experience with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), most recently as VP of operations worldwide for Vistakon, a division of Johnson and Johnson Vision Care.
Vision Monday Volume Number: 16:14 Issue: 8/8/2002
AOA Latest Equity Partner in VisionWeb
July 15, 2002 | Return to the Top
 NEW ORLEANS —At its 105th-annual Congress here late in June, the American Optometric Association (AOA) announced it has become the latest equity partner in optical-industry portal VisionWeb. The AOA will also have a seat on VisionWeb’s board, under a letter of intent between the two entities.
Representing the association on the VisionWeb board will be AOA trustee C. Thomas Crooks III, OD, according to Howard Braverman, OD, outgoing AOA chairman.
Said Braverman, “The AOA a few years ago said the future of product ordering would be the Internet and business-to-business companies. We believe that VisionWeb provides eyecare practitioners with a valuable tool to serve their patients, and we look forward to offering the service to our constituents.”
Under terms of the agreement between the AOA and VisionWeb, AOA member optometrists can get a one-year free membership in VisionWeb. To encourage them to order via the portal, after transactions by an individual AOA member on VisionWeb reach an as-yet-to-be-determined volume level VisionWeb will make a donation back to that OD’s state optometry association.
The AOA joins Essilor of America, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Allergan, Jobson Publishing, and Marchon Eyewear as VisionWeb equity partners.
Announcing the new AOA/VisionWeb partnership at the AOA Congress were (l to r) Essilor’s Bob Colucci; David Nelson, OD; Howard Braverman, OD; and C. Thomas Crooks III, OD, of the AOA; VisionWeb chairman Marc Ferrara; and Jim Callahan of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care.
Vision Monday Volume Number: 16:13 Issue: 7/15/2002
Jacques Stoerr Takes Helm at VisionWeb
June 24, 2002 | Return to the Top
 AUSTIN , Texas—Jacques Stoerr, who retired early this year as chairman of Essilor USA, has come out of retirement to serve as president and chief executive officer of VisionWeb, the online eyecare marketplace he helped create.
Stoerr will relocate to VisionWeb’s headquarters here to take on his new role. Marc Ferrara, who became VisionWeb’s CEO on an interim basis last November and guided the Internet portal through its initial beta period and its launch at this year’s International Vision Expo East, is now VisionWeb’s chairman, succeeding Stoerr. Ferrara also retains his responsibilities as president of Jobson Publishing’s ophthalmic electronic and data group. Ferrara had served as president of Sightstreet, which merged with VisionWeb last year.
“Considering the success of VisionWeb since its launch in March of this year, Jacques needed very little convincing that this was yet another opportunity to help move the eyecare industry forward,” Ferrara said. “VisionWeb is poised to change the way eyecare professionals run their practices, and Jacques will provide the strategic guidance necessary to make this venture a long-term success for the industry.”
The idea for VisionWeb was conceived at Essilor under Stoerr’s direction in early 2000 and developed by Essilor and Johnson and Johnson Vision Care. Since then, Allergan, Jobson, and Marchon Eyewear have joined the venture as equity partners; an additional equity partner will be named shortly, according to Ferrara, and talks are underway with other potential partners as well.
Stoerr, who has four decades’ experience in the optical industry, first joined Essilor (then Essel) in the mid-1960s. He helped shaped the merger of Essel and Silor into Essilor of America and became its president, then was named chairman in 1998.
“I’m very excited about the potential of VisionWeb, and I expect my new role to be both fun and challenging,” Stoerr told VM. He said his first priority will be to oversee the continuing rollout of VisionWeb in bringing eyecare professionals on board and encouraging them to use the site: “We definitely want to increase ECPs’ use of the system. We’re getting a lot of positive feedback, but we want to continue to increase our number of visits as well as the use of the site.”
VisionWeb’s management is also working to involve more supplier participants, including wholesale labs, frame vendors, and contact-lens manufacturers. “We’d also like to do whatever we can to ease the paperwork load in the doctors’ offices through practice-management solutions, and to see how we could facilitate filing insurance claims,” Stoerr said.
He remains confident of VisionWeb’s potential to benefit the industry going forward. “There’s always resistance to change, which we’ve seen in other areas of the optical business,” Stoerr declared. “But if something is good and works better, it will fly. I have a deep conviction that in five years most doctors will be saying, "I wonder how we ever did things before VisionWeb?"
Vision Monday Volume Number: 16:12 Issue: 6/24/2002
VisionWeb Launches $5K Sweepstakes
May 27, 2002 | Return to the Top
AUSTIN , Texas —Industry Internet portal VisionWeb has kicked off a $5K Giveaway Sweepstakes, designed to reward users of the website and attract new eyecare practitioners. Through September 30, every order placed using VisionWeb is an automatic entry into a monthly drawing; each month, two winners can earn up to $500 each for continuing to order ophthalmic products through the site. The sweepstakes is open to all of VisionWeb’s practitioner customers, no matter which suppliers they access. For details, visit www.visionweb.com.
Vision Monday Volume Number: 16:10 Issue: 5/27/2002
Marchon Joins as VisionWeb, Partner
April 1, 2002 | Return to the Top
 NEW YORK —VisionWeb the industry’s Internet portal, celebrated its official launch on opening day of International Vision Expo East with the announcement of another major equity partner: Marchon Eyewear.
In announcing Marchon’s participation, the company’s chief executive officer, Al Berg, described VisionWeb as “the only portal that represents leadership in the industry and the major companies.”Other equity partners in VisionWeb are Essilor of America, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Allergan, and Jobson Publishing.
Berg said orders placed through Marchon’s Officemate and the company’s other retail online-purchasing operations would begin going through VisionWeb within 60 days. “The vision we have is very clear,” he declared. “Within 12 to 18 months VisionWeb will dramatically change the way business is done in the optical industry.”
Added Berg, “The Internet is changing this world, making it incredibly efficient for industries that know how to use them.” He noted, “In the last six years we’ve seen a definite need to develop the ‘computer intelligence’ of this industry.”
Said Marc Ferrara, chief executive officer of VisionWeb, Marchon is a true leader in the eyewear industry, and the perfect addition to our growing network.”
Ferrara said VisionWeb will continue to offer new products and services, and expects to continue to sign up additional suppliers. “We will have more than 100 suppliers on VisionWeb by the end of 2002,” he added.
VisionWeb launched at Expo East after months of Beta testing in about 100 eyecare practices.
Noted Berg, “The key to VisionWeb’s success will be that it’s an open system—everybody in the industry is invited. Its purpose is to make the optical industry stronger.”
Vision Monday Volume Number: 16:07 Issue: 4/1/2002
VisionWeb Gets Official Launch at Vision Expo East
March 4, 2002 | Return to the Top
AUSTIN, Texas--VisionWeb, the Internet tool designed to allow eyecare providers to streamline and simplify the way they do business, is officially debuting at this week's International Vision Expo East, after months of beta testing. The industry portal offers a network of more than 100 optical suppliers to serve the product-ordering needs of its member ECPs. Among the optical labs signed up to offer online services via VisionWeb are Essilor Labs of America and Homer Optical. VisionWeb also has agreements with contact-lens manufacturers and distributors Vistakon, ABB, and Wise, as well as with Sàfilo, Kenmark, L'Amy, and at least 11 other frame manufacturers and distributors.
VisionWeb is hosting the Cyber Café at Expo East, and will offer demonstrations of its website and services there. ECPs can also give VisionWeb a test run, get a complete list of suppliers, and register for a free six-month subscription to VisionWeb at the Essilor Lens booth, the Essilor Lab booth, the Vistakon booth, and the Jobson Publishing booth throughout Expo East.
Vision Monday Volume Number: 16:05 Issue: 3/11/2002 |
