CARLSBAD, Calif.— SynergEyes, Inc. manufacturer and marketer of the Duette and ClearKone families of contact lenses, announced that James Kirchner, OD has been named to the position of senior vice president of clinical and professional services.

In this role, Kirchner will provide professional leadership of product development and product management. Additionally, he will leverage established
industry relationships and his deep base of industry knowledge to position the company’s products in the marketplace, while also representing SynergEyes to the eyecare professional community, interfacing with key organizations on the company’s behalf, the announcement said.

He will also participate in the development and execution of educational and marketing plans, develop programs to capture the voices of various key
opinion leaders and to educate optometric students on the Duette family of lenses. As the ECP member on the senior management team, he will advise on matters related to the eyecare profession and contact lenses.

“Dr. Kirchner has demonstrated great success in the past 35 years in private practice optometry and as a highly respected leader in the optometric community. His relationships in the industry and his focus on driving positive change in the private practice sector make him an invaluable part of the SynergEyes leadership team,” said SynergEyes CEO Jim Ham. “We are excited to have him in this new role that further demonstrates our commitment to private eyecare professionals.”

Prior to joining SynergEyes, Kirchner was chief professional officer for Eyefinity/OfficeMate, a VSP Global company. He has also been a chief executive of over a dozen start-up companies, many of them outside the ophthalmic industry. Kirchner has taken an active role in state, regional and national optometric association volunteerism throughout his career.

He is a past president of the Nebraska Optometric Association and the North Central States Optometric Council. He had previously chaired the AOA’s Vision USA committee as well as chairing numerous AOA committees and task forces. Currently, Kirchner serves as chairman of the Nebraska Board of Optometry. He was named Optometrist of the Year in 1996 by the Nebraska Optometric Association and was honored by the group’s Distinguished Service Award in 2008.

Kirchner said, “I see a bright future for Duette, specifically, and SynergEyes lenses, in general, as they provide a robust solution to unmet needs in the contact lens arena, and I’m energized to play a part in that going forward.”