November 2004 - Contact Lens Manufacturers Association

© Contact Lens Manufacturers Association
Page 1 of 8
Special Edition, November 2004
The Contact Report
Special Edition - Annual Meeting Recap
Presidential Perspectives
Dan Bell, President
Contact Lens Manufacturers Association
Palm Springs - Evolutionary Meeting
As the incoming CLMA President, I wish to
thank all of the people who made our program
in Palm Springs the tremendous success that
it was. Our attendance was up 70% over last
year and many international visitors were
there to take part.
Janice Schramm, Keith Parker, Lee Dickerson
and Pam Witham did a great job of providing
education and entertainment that kept our
convention interesting to all. For those of you
that could not attend, we sincerely missed you
and hope that you will schedule time to make
the trip next year.
We give a special thanks to all of our
exhibitors and sponsors that graciously
supported our association in so many ways.
In 2004, the CLMA has made a change in bylaws that affords our associate members more
involvement in the voting process and in the
decision making process of the organization.
The change in structure has given us a more
efficient organization that is focused on
results.
I want to express my gratitude to the
membership for comments made during the
meeting. We all appreciate the credit given
for the great results. We ask that you give us
more input as you see fit. We welcome your
feedback because we believe that our
members make up this organization and we
simply ask that members give us the direction
needed to improve the CLMA.
______________________
Attendance Increase 70% in 2004
The following CLMA member companies
were represented at the 43rd Annual Meeting
and International Exposition held in Palm
Springs, CA. October 21-23, 2004.
Regular Membership
ABB Optical
ABBA Optical, Inc.
Accu Lens, Inc.
Alden Optical Laboratories
American Contact Lens Service, Inc.
Beitler McKee Optical
Blanchard Contact Lens, Inc.
C & E GP Specialists, Inc.
Con-Cise Contact Lens Co.
Contex
Corneal Design Corporation
Custom Craft Lens Service of Nevada, Inc.
Euclid Systems Corporation
Firestone Optics, Inc.
Frontier Contact Lens Lab
International Contact Lens Labs, Inc.
Lancaster Contact Lens, Inc.
Lensco
© Contact Lens Manufacturers Association
Lens Dynamics, Inc.
New Era Custom Contacts
Paracon, Inc.
Soderberg Contact Lens
Tru-Form Optics, Inc.
Universal Contact Lens of Dallas
Valley Contax
Westlens
Associate Membership
Alcon Laboratories, Inc.
Contamac US, Inc.
Contour Fine Tooling, Inc.
DAC International, Inc.
Key Distributed Products International
Lamda Polytech Ltd.
Larsen Equipment Design, Inc.
Lobob Laboratories, Inc.
Menicon America
Paragon Vision Sciences
Polychem, Inc. USA
Polymer Technology Corporation
Sterling Ultra Precision, Inc.
The Lagado Corporation
Page 2 of 8
Special Edition, November 2004
Hong Kong, France, Israel and South
America.
Honored guests for our complete congress
were:
Mr. Graham Avery, President of EFCLIN
Mr. Ken Payne, immediate Past President
of EFCLIN
Mr. Greg Chavez, Vision Council of
America
Mr. Ivan Perel & Mr. Andy Chryssolor,
EFCLIN Board Members
_____________________
Special Membership
Contact Lens Spectrum
Review of Optometry
Wildman Sales & Marketing Group
International Membership
Cardinal Contact Lens, Inc.
CooperVision Canada Corp.
Soflex Contact Lenses Ltd.
Honorary Membership
Quido Cappelli
The following countries were represented at
our Annual Meeting this year:
United States of America, Canada, Mexico,
the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Japan,
CLMA Board of Directors
Your CLMA Board of Directors for 20032004 was recognized Saturday evening at the
Annual Gala for their hard work and
dedication provided to the CLMA this past
year.
From left to right :
John Walfoort, Keith Parker, Charley
Creighton, Janice Schramm, Dan Bell, Marty
Dalsing, Arch Holcomb, Chris Pantle, Al
© Contact Lens Manufacturers Association
Vaske and Dave Rusch. Dan Manelli and Dr.
Ed Bennett were also honored by President
Lee Dickerson for their contributions to the
CLMA through legal counsel and the GP Lens
Institute. Elections to the Board of Directors
were held at the Business Luncheon on
Friday, October 22, 2004.
Elected were:
President:
Dan Bell (Corneal
Design Corp)
Vice President:
Janice Schramm
(Valley Contax)
Secretary/Treasurer:Chris Pantle (Lamda
Polytech)
Regular Members Board Representation
Charley Creighton
Lee Dickerson
Arch Holcomb
Dave Rusch
Al Vaske
John Walfoort
Associate Members Board Representation
David Bland
Marty Dalsing
Congratulations to these representatives from
our membership that are committed to the
goals and mission of the Contact Lens
Manufacturers Association.
¾ ¿
CLMA 2004 AWARDS Presented
Jan Daniel, Chair
Awards Committee
The membership of the CLMA was honored
to have 5 of the 6 award winners accepting
their awards presented at the Annual Gala,
Page 3 of 8
Special Edition, November 2004
Saturday October 23, 2004. Awarded for
their outstanding excellence in our contact
lens industry were:
Dr. Nick Siviglia
Lancaster Contact Lens Inc.
Creative Design and Process Award
Innovation in Lens Design and
Manufacturing Process to the Enhancement
of the Contact Lens Industry.
Mr. Joe Sicari
Paragon Vision Sciences
Trailblazers Award
Outstanding Achievement in Product
Development to the Enhancement of the
Contact Lens Industry.
Joseph T. Barr, OD, MS
Ohio State University
College of Optometry
Industry Enhancement Award
Unselfish Dedication to the CLMA and the
Contact Lens Industry.
Chairman Kyoichi Tanaka
Menicon Company Ltd., Japan
Honorary Recognition Award
Appreciation for a Lifetime of Dedication
and Service to the Contact Lens Industry.
David T. Rusch
Firestone Optics, Inc.
Leonardo da Vinci Award
Vision in Establishing and Focus of the
CLMA and Unflagging Dedication to the
Achievement of its Goals.
© Contact Lens Manufacturers Association
Cornel LeBlanc, OD
LeBlanc Eye Center
Alexandria, Louisiana
GP Lens Practitioner of the Year
Outstanding Professional Expertise in
Fitting GP Contact Lenses to the Benefit of
the Contact Lens Industry and Corneal
Health.
¾¿
Fellow Contact Lens Manufacturers,
I have just returned from one of the Best
CLMA Conventions in Palm Springs,
California in recent memory. A wonderful
thing happened to me and I don’t want it to
pass unrecognized.
Since my membership in the CLMA beginning
in 1968, I have not missed a convention. The
following is not a pat on my back, just some
historical recollections: I was a member of
the Board of Directors, Secretary/Treasurer,
Vice President and President. I have chaired
many Committees and worked with some
marvelously talented people, far more
talented than I, myself. They made me look
good and because of their dedication and
hard work, I was recognized with the Dallos
Award and the Leonardo da Vinci Award. At
the presentations of these awards, the
audience was always kind and gave me a
standing ovation. These, I recognized as
expressions of thanks, of not being seated
when everyone stood and perhaps an
expression of admiration.
I could understand that and gratefully
accepted the accolades.
But, I would never have imagined what was
going to happen after Chris Pantle announced
me as the presenter of the Honorable
Page 4 of 8
Special Edition, November 2004
Recognition Award to Mr. Kyoichi Tanaka of
Menicon. As I walked to the podium,
examining my notes, all of You present gave
me a standing ovation. The moment took me
by complete surprise. The emotion that
welled in my heart and spirit was
indescribable.
That moment will forever go down in my
memory as the most memorable occasion of
my career, and it signified to me the great
brotherhood we feel for one another in our
industry. I want to thank each and every one
of you for that moment, which is etched in my
heart.
George K. Meszaros
October 26, 2004
¾¿
...From
The Podium
Notable industry leaders led
workshops with emphasis on
manufacturing, business
enhancement
and
consultation. Peer panel discussions included
George Meszaros (Polychem Inc., USA),
Greg Goodhart (Con-Cise Contact Lens
Company), Kyle Sawyer (ABB Optical), Erik
Larsen (Larsen Equipment Design), Chris
Pantle (Lamda Polytech), Ken Payne
(Contamac), Chip Heavican (DAC
International), Bruce Davies (Sterling
Precision) with individual informational
workshops by Josh Adams, NCLC (Valley
Contax), Jim Lunkley (Polymer Technology),
Dan Bell (Corneal Design Company) and
Jason Ford (STF Precision). The second day
of workshops featured Dr. Art Epstein, Craig
Norman, FCLSA, Pat Caroline, FCLSA,
© Contact Lens Manufacturers Association
FAAO, Dr. Eef van der Worp, Dr. Janis
Cotter, Keith Parker, NCLC, and Dr. Ed
Bennett. Topics ranged from simplifying the
GP fit, corneal topography advances,
solutions for the dry eye,
corneal/limbal/scleral lenses, multifocal and
keratoconus designs and ended with a panel
discussion on corneal reshaping.
Ms. Kare Anderson was the featured keynote
speaker for the business enhancement portion
of the Annual Meeting. With “Compelling
Communication” methods to persuade,
resolve conflicts, lead and forge agreements,
interactive presentations were made
exclusively for our exhibitors as well as two
sessions on individual and company
communication.
¾¿
GP Lens Committee Update
Dave Rusch, Chair
GP Lens Committee
Attendees at the business luncheon, hosted for
the membership of the CLMA on Friday,
October 22, 2004, were introduced to the
premier copies of the two Presbyopia Sell
Cards that have been developed for eye care
practitioners and their staff.
Page 5 of 8
Special Edition, November 2004
These cards will be available (at cost) to the
CLMA membership for distribution to
their eye care professionals in the
upcoming weeks. Your CLMA dues helped
to pay for the development of these laminated
cards. This is the first project completion in a
total Presbyopic Tool Kit being developed.
The cost of the Presbyopic Tool Kit was
approved by the membership by acceptance of
the 2005 CLMA Annual Budget.
We will be featuring these cards as an “action
item” to gauge the response to trade journal
advertising that commenced in the October,
2004 issue of Contact Lens Spectrum. Our
message is clear - presbyopic contact lenses
are not hard to fit. They can grow your
practice, retain your patient and provide a
healthy vision choice for most all consumers.
These cards will be utilized by eye care
practitioners and their staff to enthusiastically
present presbyopic lens designs to their
consumers.
Exhibit Hall Growth
This year’s exhibition arena grew with over
20% more exhibitors than last year. And we
have room for more for next year. A
tremendous thank you to the following list of
exhibitors for providing much support to the
CLMA and the contact lens industry.
Attendees were able to view and visit with our
exhibitors on the latest advances and research
accomplished in the lathing industry, diamond
tooling, material manufacturers and all
ancillary products and services to our
industry.
Again, thank you to:
17th Avenue Marketing
Benz Research & Development
© Contact Lens Manufacturers Association
Contamac/Lobob Laboratories/Wildman
Sales & Marketing
CLMA/GP Lens Institute
Contact Lens Spectrum
Contour Fine Tooling
DAC International
Key Distributed Products International
The Lagado Corporation
Lamda Polytech
Larsen Equipment Design
Menicon America
Paragon Vision Sciences/Alcon
Laboratories
Polychem Inc. USA
Polymer Technology
STF Precision
Sterling Ultra Precision
Vision Council of America
Mike Wildman, Deanna Werber, Marty Dalsing and
Associate L Contamac/Lobob Laboratories/Wildman
Sales & Marketing booth
A special thank you to Contamac, Inc. for
supplying the portfolios utilized as
registration packets at this Annual Meeting.
Page 6 of 8
Special Edition, November 2004
Jim Marks - DAC International & Kyle
Sawyer - ABB Optical.
“A swingin’ good time”. Quido Cappelli at
the Paragon Vision Science’s virtual golf
game.
If anyone took digital pictures during the
CLMA Annual Meeting, please e-mail them
t o
C L M A
o f f i c e
a t
CLMAssociation@aol.com. They will not be
returned.
utilized!!!
(
– however, they will be
© Contact Lens Manufacturers Association
Page 7 of 8
Special Edition, November 2004
Memories..........
CLMA Golf Tournament Results
1st Place
Jean Blanchard
Marty Dalsing
Dave Headlee
Nigel Seddon
2nd Place
David Bland
Craig Norman
Tim Koch
Dr. Ed Bennett
3rd Place
Andrew White
Lee Buffalo
Dr. Bob Mandell
“Bringing Up The Rear”
Don Dixon
Bill Masler
Rob McGregor
Simon Wyatt
Where will the 2005 CLMA Annual
Meeting Be Held?
Las Vegas, Nevada
San Antonio, Texas
Gulfport/Biloxi Mississippi
New Orleans, Louisiana
Atlanta, Georgia
San Francisco, California
Omaha, Nebraska!!!
Cruise Ship
Watch your e-mail for a survey to be sent
in November, 2004 to help determine our
next location site.
Longest Drive
Longest Putt
Closest to the Pin
Don Dixon
Andrew White
Keith Parker
Exciting CLMA “Name Those Individuals”
Contest on following page. We will be
featuring “senior” pictures from the archives
of the CLMA throughout the year. If you
can name each person in the picture and
submit to the CLMA office — you will earn
$50.00 registration fee coupon towards your
2005 Annual Meeting Registration.
© Contact Lens Manufacturers Association
Page 8 of 8
Name These Individuals
Special Edition, November 2004
Contest #1
Submit the names to Pam at CLMAssociation@aol.com
Win a $50.00 coupon towards 2005 CLMA Annual Meeting Registration
Contact Lens Manufacturers Association
PO Box 29398
Lincoln, Nebraska 68529
800-344-9060 (USA & Canada)
402-465-4122
402-465-4187 (Fax)
www.clma.net
CLMAssociation@aol.com