EDGEPRO ANALYTICS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the GPN Leadership Team
- President
Carissa Dunphy is an ABO Certified optician who has been working in eyecare since 2008. She is a Marketing Specialist at PECAA and founded Optician Now. Carissa is also an expert contributor for INVISION Magazine, co-hosts the OWA Talks Podcast and is a Vice-Chair on the Communications & Website Committee for the Optical Women's Association.
Carissa was named an Innovator in the Most Influential Women in Optical by Vision Monday Magazine and was awarded the Leadership Scholarship Award from the Optical Women's Association.
Expertise:
Recent From Carissa
Job Titles:
- Director of Customer Service
- How to Keep Staff Conflict from Becoming a Crisis in Your Practice
Cathy has an extensive background in optometric management. She managed several professional teams in the Titusville, Florida area before joining GPN Technologies in 2018, where she currently leads our Customer Success Team, assisting our customers in maximizing their practice management efforts.
Cathy's been a presenter at the AOA, teaching paraoptometrics technicians the finer points of successful patient and practice interaction. She serves on the Commission on Paraoptometric Certification (CPC). The board administers and prepares the examinations for the various levels of certification through the AOA. She is currently the co-chair for the Item Writing & Test Review Committee.
Cathy lives in Florida with her husband, son, and several "fur babies." She enjoys photography and reading in her spare time.
Expertise:
Recent From Cathy
Job Titles:
- Content Marketing and Communications Manager
Connor McGann is a veteran marketer with a focus on content marketing. He started in eye care in 2009 working out of the ClearVision Optical distribution center. He came back to the industry years later working for a vision insurance tech company. He returned to ClearVision as content marketing and communications manager in 2022.
Expertise:
Recent From Connor
Job Titles:
- Senior VP of Benefits Consulting With the Alera Group
Dr. Amanda Barker, a North Carolina native, completed her B.S. in Biology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill followed by her Doctorate of Optometry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her training at the Northern Navajo Medical Center in New Mexico focused heavily on ocular disease management and treatment while also fostering a deeper love for travel and mission work.
In 2004, Dr. Barker, along with her husband, opened Advanced Family Eye Care in Denver, NC. While she treats patients of all ages, pediatric care and vision therapy has become a primary emphasis. In 2009, she opened SightWork, a vision therapy clinic to more comprehensively manage conditions such as strabismus, amblyopia, traumatic brain injury, and vision related learning delays.
Mission work, both domestically and internationally, is a personal passion for Dr. Barker. Involvement in humanitarian efforts led to the adoption of her eldest child which has been one of the greatest blessings in life. She has had the opportunity to travel to various under-served countries providing eye care along with other humanitarian efforts. Because the needs of her immediate community also weigh heavily on her heart, she has developed various community service projects through her private practice to help individuals close to home. In her spare time, she loves to read, exercise, work in the community, travel and spend time with her husband and two children.
Expertise:
Recent From Amanda
Job Titles:
- Optometrist / Hill Country Vision Center
Dr. Brandon Blaker has been leading Hill Country Vision Center for nearly 20 years. Under his guidance, the business has expanded from a single location to five, and saw tremendous growth in every area. As the first practice to be acquired by private equity in the state of Texas, Hill Country became the anchor brand for a regional consolidation which maintains a significant and growing presence in the market.
Dr. Blaker characterizes himself as a logical and innovative thinker, and his success in the field bears that out. His relentless focus on performance improvement has yielded unusually successful results, and a tremendous return on investment. He believes firmly in setting and attaining goals for achieving and maintaining forward progress.
He also continues to pursue his own personal and professional development, and is currently scheduled to complete a Masters in Business Administration, Finance, in the summer of 2021. He looks forward to sharing his expertise with other practitioners who want to bring a goal-oriented approach to their own businesses.
Expertise:
Recent From Brandon
Job Titles:
- Chief
- Co - Founder
- Optometrist
- Chief Vision Officer
Dr. Jennifer Stewart is an optometrist, internationally recognized speaker, writer, consultant, and entrepreneur. She has a passion for helping optometrists and organizations with operations, sales success, practice management and sales team training through her advisory and consulting firm, OD Perspectives. She is an established writer and has been featured in most optometric publications, is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the New England College of Optometry and a consultant for Coopervision and Zyloware. She was also awarded the Emerging Leader award in 2022 from the Optical Women's Association.
With a deep interest in sports vision, Dr. Stewart is the Co-Founder and Chief Vision Officer for Performance 20/20, which provides services for sports and performance vision training. She is a recipient of the Theia Award for Innovation by Women in Optometry and serves on the Executive Board for the International Sports Vision Association.
Dr. Stewart is passionate about sports safety, enhancing performance, and helping business owners achieve their goals. An avid Disney fan, she lives her life by the quote "if you can dream it, you can do it." She is inspired to help others with their dreams.
Expertise:
Recent From Jennifer
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Chief Executive Officer at Build My Team
Dr. Michael Neal is the Chief Executive Officer at Build My Team. He is the face of the company, having founded Build My Team as a result of his own practice's hiring struggles.
Dr. Neal is a practicing Optometrist alongside his wife, Dr. Amy Neal. Together they founded Lakeside Vision in picturesque Hawley, Pennsylvania. They are celebrating their 20th year of serving Northeast Pennsylvania.
Downtime is spent with Amy, their two boys and two dogs. Both Drs. Neal have recently taken up running and even run when not being chased.
Expertise:
Recent From Mike
Dr. Ryan Gustus is a 2011 graduate of the IU school of optometry and completed a residency in ocular disease at the Fort Wayne VA Hospital in 2012. He is partner at Eyecare Associates of Bluffton in Indiana and is opening a second location in July 2021. Dr. Gustus has lectured at professional conferences with a focus on paraoptometric education for the last 10 years. He is co-founder and CEO of LensQuote, a software platform built for practice owners to drive more in-office contact lens sales.
Expertise:
Recent From Ryan
Job Titles:
- Employee
- Develop Your Leadership to Grow Your Practice
- Optometric Practice Management Consultant
- Team Building: the Magic Wand to Create a Multi - Million Dollar Practice
Steve Vargo, OD, MBA is a 1998 graduate of the Illinois College of Optometry. A published author and speaker with 15 years of clinical experience, he now serves as IDOC's Optometric Practice Management Consultant.
Since transitioning to a full-time practice management consultant, Dr. Vargo has performed over 3,000 consultations and coaching sessions with hundreds of independent optometry practices across the country. He speaks regularly at industry conferences, has been published in numerous industry publications, has a regular column in Optometric Management titled "The CEO Challenge", and is a contributing author to the widely read "Optometric Management Tip of the Week" article.
Dr. Vargo has authored 3 books on the subjects of staff management, leadership and selling. His most recent book, But I Don't Sell, became a #1 best seller on Amazon for the Optometry category.
Expertise:
Recent From Steve
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- COO
- Co - Founder and COO of GPN Technologies
Jay and Mark partnered with Evan Kestenbaum, a recent MBA graduate, who had grown up in an optometric family and was seeking to break into consulting. They found common ground in understanding of the value of objective measurements in business development. Together, they began to look for ways to share their expertise on a broader scale, so they could help independent practitioners improve their businesses by using a metrics-based approach.
Evan Kestenbaum is the co-founder and COO of GPN Technologies. He operates a second-generation private practice in New York, and spends his days finding ways to "make things better," for his patients, his team, and practitioners around the country.
Evan is an MBA graduate of SUNY Binghamton, and has applied his appreciation of data solutions to developing unique management strategies and tools within the optical industry.
His non-optical hours are filled by an active family, including three young daughters who keep him very busy.
Expertise:
Recent From Evan
Job Titles:
- Operating Executive / Blue Point Capital Partners
Holly is a growth catalyst and an impact driven executive, who transforms consumer focused companies and brands, builds people-first cultures, and creates long term value for stakeholders. She has consistently built sustainable growth platforms as both an operator and as an advisor. She has worked for industry leading companies such as EssilorLuxottica, L'Oreal and Duracell/Gillette, as well as in start-ups, and has led organizations large ($1B) and small ($20MM+) in Beauty, Luxury/Fashion Eyewear, Lifestyle/Outdoor and Consumer Goods. She is skilled at scaling low to mid-market (50-350MM) companies and navigating the shift to omni-channel.
In 2020, Holly launched Mariposa Advisors, a consulting and leadership coaching firm, to support Brands, Businesses and CEOs on their path to growth. She specializes in emerging to mid-cap consumer companies that are navigating today's complex omnichannel environment. In addition to strategic growth planning, organization development and leadership coaching, she serves as a due-diligence advisor to PE firms and strategic players assessing potential acquisitions.
While driving performance and building brands is at her core, Holly is equally passionate about developing next generation talent. She is a member of CHIEF and devotes significant time to coaching and mentoring emerging leaders, especially women.
Expertise:
Recent From Holly
Job Titles:
- CFO
- COO
- Member of the GPN Leadership Team
Job Titles:
- Marketing Coordinator / Foxfire Systems Group
- Turn Your Staff Meetings from an Expense to an Investment
Job Titles:
- Member of the GPN Leadership Team
Lynn E. Lawrence is currently a national lecturer and an ophthalmic technician for Mills Eye and Facial Plastic Surgery. He has a Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership. An American Optometric Association, American Board of Opticianry, Joint Commission for Allied Healthcare Personnel in Ophthalmology, and COPE approved speaker. In 2009 he retired from the USAF after 30 years of service. During his military career he was promoted to the top 1% of the enlisted ranks to Chief Master Sergeant, and then assigned to the Army/Air Force Exchange Service Headquarters, Dallas, Texas as the Optical Program Manager. He oversaw quality control for 133 optical stores world-wide. He was also appointed by the Air Force Surgeon General as the Ophthalmic Career Field Manager where he oversaw 540 Optometry/Ophthalmology technicians at 90 locations around the world. He currently develops compliance materials and staff development materials.
Lynn was 1 of 4 nationally recognized technicians selected to attend the Industry sponsored 2020 Summit where industry and optometry came together to target the hurdles within optometry to enhance the profession. Lynn is a native of Saint Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Rite¬nour Senior High School, St. John, Missouri. He joined the Air Force's delayed entry program in January 1979. He entered Basic Military Training School at Lackland AFB, Texas in August 1979. He is currently an AOP volunteer for SECO International.
Lynn is also passionate about "giving back," and actively supports Passion to Heal, which offers Optometrists, Ophthalmologists, Opticians and their associated medical professionals (ophthalmic nurses/technicians) the opportunity to travel on fully funded medical mission trips to Kenya to diagnose and treat eye conditions while training local clinicians. If you have anyone in your networks that may be interested in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Lynn would appreciate any referrals you may have. For more program information or to apply, you can direct interested individuals to www.passiontoheal.com.
Expertise:
Recent From Lynn
Job Titles:
- Practice Finance Consultant for IDOC
Nathan Hayes is the Practice Finance Consultant for IDOC. He is a 10-year veteran of the eyecare industry, working at HMI Buying Group and Red Tray, Prima Eye Group from its inception and now IDOC. In his current role, Nathan helps OD practice owners manage their overhead, grow practice revenues and profits, and maximize their personal income, free time, and professional satisfaction.
Expertise:
Recent From Nathan
Job Titles:
- CTO
- Member of the GPN Leadership Team
Job Titles:
- Build Leadership and Improve Efficiency by Delegating
- How to Use the Psychology of Change to Improve Performance in Your Practice
- Lead Your Team to Profitability by Improving Provider Efficiency
- Practice Owner
Dr. Meeker has been in practice in his home town of Vestal, NY since 1985. He is a graduate of Colgate University and the University of California at Berkeley School of Optometry. He has been a Fellow of the American Academy since 1988 and was among the first group of optometrists to achieve Diplomate of the American Board of Optometry in 2011. Dr. Meeker was an early adopter of electronic health records, beginning in 1997.
After 35 years in active practice, Dr. Meeker is transitioning his legacy practice to a younger practitioner as he turns his attention to the next phase of his career. He looks forward to sharing his expertise with the eyeTHRIVE community, and assisting other practitioners in developing their best practices.
Expertise:
Recent From Ron
Job Titles:
- Executive Business Coach & Consultant / Sandbox Spaces, LLC
- Hiring, Training, and Leading a Winning Team
Scott Jens is a serial entrepreneur whose career started as a Doctor of Optometry as a co-owner of a multi-doctor multi-location eye clinic group in Madison, WI, where he practiced eye care for twenty-five years. He served the eye care profession as a state and national volunteer leader, and also became an expert in medical records.
In 2006 he co-founded RevolutionEHR, the eye care industry's first (and ultimately, leading) SaaS electronic health record system, and served as CEO through the company's transition into the full-service strategy, Rev360, until retirement in 2018.
Expertise:
Recent From Scott