Programme Advisory Board

Head of CET, Association of British Dispensing Opticians Alexandra Webster MSc, PGDipE, FBDO CL, FHEA, FBCLA is qualified dispensing optician and contact lens optician and worked in both independent and multiple practice. She is a practical examiner and theory paper marker for ophthalmic dispensing and a probationary contact lens examiner for ABDO. Alex is Head of CET at ABDO and has worked in contact lens professional services and optical education for over 7 years, gaining a Master’s degree in Healthcare Professional Education. She has also worked part-time as a lecturer in Ophthalmic Dispensing and Contact Lenses at Bradford College. Alex is an experienced presenter and facilitator, as well as author of CET.

Amanda Danson is the CEO of Birmingham Optical and is a respected professional with 40 years of experience in optometry, ophthalmology and refractive surgery. Throughout her time working for a large corporate she won the award for outstanding achievement: ‘Best Optometrist’, while achieving high levels of commercial and educational training of all professional staff and the recruitment and success of 70 pre-registration students annually. Dedicated to providing an expert service, she actively builds relationships and reputation with key people, giving her a deep and up to date understanding of the optometry and ophthalmology industries. She has earned her MSC and post-grad in ophthalmology and is a committee member of the Federation of Manufacturing Opticians (FMO), being the Vice Chair of the Equipment Focus Group.

Andy Brown is currently a National Account Manager for Thea Pharmaceuticals Ltd, working with both the optometry and pharmacy sectors in the UK on OTC, P and POM ophthalmology products. Before joining Thea, Andy had a broad experience of the UK optical industry for over 25 years with various major worldwide manufacturers including Bausch & Lomb, Luxottica, Marchon, Fabris Lane and CooperVision. His career has dealt with all sectors of the market including independents, multiples, national and international accounts as well as e-Commerce, to help create and grow mutually beneficial business partnerships. Career highlights include: writing and implementing full commercial strategy for new division launch from scratch to £2Million target sales within 2 years; developing innovative marketing initiatives across Europe utilising the Ray-Ban brand with blue chip clients such as Manchester United, Columbia Tristar and Sony PlayStation. As a keratoconus patient of many years, Andy is committed to educating the sector and patient base on the importance of looking after their vision and promoting eye health from early ages. He enjoys sport including golf, archery and fell walking and spending time with his family.

CEO, British Contact Lens Association Currently the CEO of the BCLA (British Contact Lens Association), whose mission is to educate, interact and promote growth in the field of contact lenses and anterior segment. The BCLA is a UK based membership organisation with Charity status, with a strong international brand including a large percentage of international members. To deliver leadership in this role, Cheryl is a respected member of the contact lens profession, with extensive experience and a thorough understanding which have been gained in both independent and large chain practices, industry, education and the wider profession within the UK, as well as key European and Asia markets. Industry positions have been held within optical bodies such as Euromcontact, ABDO and BCLA; serving on BCLA council as a Dispensing Section Chair for several years before becoming BCLA president. Cheryl is a high profile, respected member of the UK profession and international contact lens community and a well-regarded generic educator. Cheryl held a UK industry position for several years before moving into a regional EMEA role as Director of Medical Affairs for Bausch + Lomb, where she was the Clinical, Technical and Educational Lead for the region. Success in this role was delivered with strong leadership skills operating within a matrix organisation across EMEA.

Operations Director, Federation of Manufacturing Opticians (FMO) David joined the Federation of Manufacturing Opticians (FMO) in November 2018 and is responsible for developing FMO membership and member benefits as well as liaising with MA Exhibitions to make Optrafair 20/20 the biggest and best to date. He has written articles on Pearse Keane, Professor Sunil Shah, Professor Philip Morgan and Professor Lyndon Jones, who will all be speaking at Optrafair 20/20. David is a communications professional with extensive experience of sales and marketing, both traditional and digital, operating both client and agency side. He has held sales and marketing positions for J Sainsbury, Dixons and Shell. David has comprehensive experience organising exhibitions and hospitality (Motor Show and British Grand Prix) and conferences (Google, Facebook, Twitter and Snap). He has presented at conferences including Westminster Forum and Ad Week Europe. David has worked as Client Services Director for a product placement agency and as a media manager for an advertising trade body for 10 years, advising members on all aspects of GDPR. David’s interests include football, music and travel.

Chair, Lens Focus Group, Federation of Manufacturing Opticians (FMO) & Professional Relations Manager, Essilor

Chair, BBR Optometry Ltd, Professor of Clinical Optometry, University of Manchester & President, European Academy of Optometry and Optics Nicholas Rumney is currently in a full-scope, award-winning practice in Hereford. A 3rd-generation optometrist, he graduated from Cardiff, did his pre-reg year at Bristol Eye Hospital, and completed an MSc in low vision in Melbourne. He was a Professional Qualifying and Fellowship Examiner and was one of a handful of College of Optometrists members to complete the Fellowship by examination. He has been FAAO since 1995. Recognising that a stimulus was needed to encourage an interest in optometric therapeutics, Nick was instrumental in bringing Lou Catania from the US to the UK for a multi-centre roadshow that was seen by over 700 optometrists. He was also a founding partner in the educational group “Optometric Educators” in 1997. Mr Rumney was part of the GOC team that developed the regulations underpinning specialist therapeutic registration, and in 2012, he qualified as an independent prescriber. His practice is the only one in the UK dually registered for Investors in People (Gold) and ISO 9000, and was the first in the UK to introduce first 3D-OCT and latterly swept-source OCT. Mr Rumney regularly presents on this technology at meetings as far apart as Japan, Finland, South Africa and India. In 2011, Mr Rumney became co-supervisor for the first optometry practice to be granted a Knowledge Transfer Partnership, sharing a 3-year PhD research student with Aston University. A new KTP project on dry eye was completed in June 2018. Nick is one of a handful of optometrists to be awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Association of British Dispensing Opticians Mr Rumney has served on many national and international committees, including the General Optical Council (GOC), where he was a member of the Audit, Education and Investigation Committees and was the first optometrist to chair Standards. In 2008 he was appointed to the AAO Fellowship International Admissions Committee, and in 2013 was promoted to chair the International region. He was clinical conference coordinator for the British Contact Lens Association 2014-2015 and chaired the UK National Committee of Optometry Giving Sight until October 2016. In November 2016 he was awarded the Philip Cole prize for in-practice research by the College of Optometrists. In November 2017 he was the first international optometrist recognised as a Fellow of the Association of Optometrists Ireland. He was a founding member of the European Academy of Optometry and Optics and recently assumed the Presidency of the European Academy of Optometry. He has consulting interests with Topcon, Alcon, Thea, Santen, Glaukos and Novartis. In 2018 Nicholas was made Honorary Professor in Clinical Optometry at the University of Manchester. Outside optometry Nick is a passionate car enthusiast and rugby union supporter.

Professional Services Manager, Hoya Lens UK Andrew qualified as a dispensing optician in 1988 and has over 35 years’ experience in both manufacturing and technical dispensing optics. Andrew has previously worked for large optical chains, smaller regional groups and independent high street practice. Andrew was Technical and Professional Services Manager for a large European group for over 20 years, where he was fully responsible for the day to day running of the organisation including overseeing production, technical training of the group. Andrew’s current role as UK Professional Services Manager for Hoya UK involves him in a variety of support, management and training roles. He is not responsible for in-house company training but creation and delivery of motivational seminars on lens product, prescription and task analysis to a wide group of professionals, both in the UK and mainland Europe. Andrew is a regular lecturer and tutor at Hoya’s European Faculty and is currently Chair of the FMO Lens Focus Group and Chair of the FMO Standards Panel.