Sandbox Stories - The Podcast

E. Dean Butler got into “brand management” in his early career at Proctor and Gamble.  While there, he helped a coworker’s in-laws optical business in Louisiana, particularly around branding.  Out of that work, he founded Lenscrafters, and in his career has contributed to starting 4,500 optical stores in 45 countries.  Given his brand work on “real people testimonial” advertising, he increased the...

Dr. Bill Rafferty has dutifully committed much of his career to the critical issues of regulatory activities that govern Optometry, both in his home state of North Carolina but also nationally through ARBO.  He is a 1977 graduate of the UAB School of Optometry, and has had many professional roles in addition to clinical practice, including serving as faculty at Duke University and Wake Forest.  Hi...

Dr. Masoud Nafey is a technology expert who brings a wide array of views about how Optometry might utilize the tools at their discretion to best connect with the 21st century health and eye care consumer.  He provides an excellent insight to how we might advance as a profession while the patients advance toward more of a consumerist approach to consuming their eye care.  From a family of Afghan re...

Scott Harris Shapiro is a leader in the US optical business, as owner and CEO of Europa Eyewear.  His parents started the business, which his father spoke of as a “people business,” and grew it from the ground up.  Scott has a history of being in the public eye - spending time in his early years as a stand-up comedian and radio personality, from which he learned business insights that he still use...

Dr. Sherrol Reynolds is full professor at NOVA Southeastern University College of Optometry.  Her perspective about the power of mentorship and its influence on her, and how she now mentors others, is powerful.  Her family emigrated from Jamaica and she grew up in Florida, where she considered becoming a physician but turned toward Optometry partly due to vision loss that hit her aunt.  She is pas...

Dr. Dori Carlson’s accomplishments in Optometry are stupendous, including a decade-plus of service  to the American Optometric Association which culminated with her serving as the first female President of the AOA.  Dr. Carlson has leveraged the values of her early days along with a commitment to continual personal and professional improvement to become an incredibly important part of the fabric o...

Dr. Steven Lee grew up in Toronto, studied at the University of Waterloo, and attended the Illinois College of Optometry. A self-described “nerdy gadget guy,” he quickly became interested in disruptive technology that might support patients. He co-founded the company, Opternative, that eventually became quite controversial for its direct-to-patient care approach, and has had a career full of entre...

Dr. Linda Casser has had a career of service — to three Colleges of Optometry, the National Board of Examiners in Optometry, the American Academy of Optometry, the American Optometric Association, and the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry.  Her career concluded with being granted Professor Emerita status in August 2022 from Salus University Pennsylvania College of Optometry.  She’s...

A 1993 graduate of NECO, Dr. Alan Glazier has spent a career in Optometry as an entrepreneur.  He worked in his dad’s practice in his early days along with many other roles that found him starting businesses.  He learned business insights along the way, and credits his height for his accomplishments.  He self-taught to become a marketing expert, which led him to become the founder of the most prol...

Raised on a rural farm in Maryland, Ed Buffington learned the lessons of hard work.  These lessons translated into a tremendous career in the eye care industry, where he was the founder of OfficeMate software and today serves as CEO of GPN Technologies, the company that brings the EDGEPro data dashboard to eye care professionals.  In March 2024, he was honored by Prevent Blindness as the 2024 “Per...

Dr. Ann Hoscheit is owner of EyeBridge Consulting Associates, after a long career in which she built two separate iconic eye care practices. She’s a graduate of the University of Houston College of Optometry. Dr. Hoscheit has been a trailblazer in women’s leadership in Optometry. She finds true joy and prosperity in Optometry, and through these many stories she hopes that her colleagues will also....

An Ohio guy who thought he would remain there forever, Dr. Rick Weisbarth became an internationally respected Doctor of Optometry who supported the profession through his role in professional relations for Alcon Laboratories (and formerly CIBA VISION) as well as a lecturer on a variety of contact lens topics.  He graduated from The Ohio State University College of Optometry and became connected wi...

Scott shares four pearls to building and enjoying a life well-lived, which is aspirational and to which we will be judged by others some day in the future

Dr. John Potter is a true treasure to the profession. A graduate of the Indiana University School of Optometry, he has been at the forefront of every major evolutionary step in Optometry over the last fifty years. After all of his time in Optometry, he used his intellectual basis to move into an entirely different career as an educator - now serving as clinical associate professor of dispute resol...

Dr. Vince Brandys has translated a Chicago upbringing in a family that served the community into a career in Optometry that has included deep involvement in professional advocacy. His words of encouragement to his colleagues to step up their support of the profession are to be heard by all.

In semi-retirement, I built a spec home in Orlando to get away from Wisconsin's winters.  In this Sandbox Story, you'll get perspective of how my experiences taught me something about how optometry might better manage its business to focus on the expectations of its customers.   Run time:  7 min 30 sec

Dr. Araba Otoo received the 2022 Student of the Year Award from the American Optometric Student Association (AOSA.)   She has started her practice career in a residency in the VA system, and is motivated to drive a global ocular wellness mindset into the profession.  As a child in Ghana, she malingered to get glasses when she was very young.  Her impressionable mind was pushed toward eyecare due t...

Jay Binkowitz has used deep business acumen to drive a number of differentiated businesses into the eye care industry.   His path into the optical business led to building the most powerful data dashboard in the industry, EDGEPro.   The Stories within the Story include: 1:01  The Upbringing Story 5:45  The Hustle Story 8:30  The Optical Story 14:28  The Software Story 22:08  The Consolidator Story...

Lynn Lawrence is a career Optometric Technician, starting that role as part of a thirty-plus year career in the Air Force, and has built a consulting business for the eye care industry which teaches leadership.  His commitment to the profession is to drive advancement through learning, certification, and thoughtful leadership. The Stories within the Story Include: 1:08  The St. Louis Upbringing St...

Dr. Bob Layman has been the AOA President from June 2021 through June 2022.   This interview is the first one done with a sitting President of the AOA, and some of his best views are shared about how optometry must be politically thoughtful and mindful to stay successful.  Most importantly, Bob’s true humility and drive toward service shines through.   The Stories within the Story Include: 1:16  T...

A North Dakotan, Dr. Nate Lighthizer has an incredible story about how he grew up doing fishing trips with his family, as well as participating in sports as a kid.  After graduating from Pacific University College of Optometry, he advanced his career to his current position on faculty at Northeastern State University College of Optometry in Tallequah, OK.  Dr. Lighthizer has had a tremendous impac...

Simply put, Lex is a deeply caring human being.  I've never met anyone, young or old, who is as able to connect with others as Lex does.  He's autistic, transgender, and loving.  This Sandbox Story has life lessons in it for every one of us.   The Stories within the Story include: 1:11  The Disney College Program Story 3:33  The Kentucky Upbringing Story 5:05  The Being Autistic Story 9:12  The Po...

Dr. Sue Cotter is faculty at the Southern California College of Optometry, on the Board of the American Academy of Optometry, and co-chair of the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group of the NIH. This Sandbox Story covers her views on optometric education as well as gives insights on her life's joys. The Stories Within the Story Include: 0:58 The PMMA Lenses Story 3:44 The Educator Story 8:56 T...

From humble beginnings in Montana, to becoming a preeminent ophthalmologist on the new frontier of dry eye management, Dr. Laura Periman’s many stories are incredibly motivational.  And as a human, rarely will you hear someone who is has as much empathy for others. The Stories within the Story include: 1:24  The Montana Story 3:50  The Motivation Story 6:48  The Medicine Story 9:29  The Insurance...

This Sandbox Story is an interview of some of the leaders of the Optical Women’s Association, OWA.  Guests include Deb Bulken, Janelle Pauli, and Dr. Lorie Lippiatt.  Despite their long-standing history, they are a “best-kept secret” in the industry, and they deserve to be well-known and supported because of their powerful impact. To join OWA:  https://www.opticalwomen.com/join.asp   To contribute...