Peter Guthy (l) and Ludo Ladreyt.

NEW YORK—Luxottica Wholesale North America, which serves over 20,000 customers in the U.S. and Canada, has adjusted its commercial structure by creating separate dedicated teams focused on the optical and premium sun markets.

“This new structure is a natural evolution of our business growth and we believe it will enable us to achieve our long range vision, while improving our service to the market,” said Holly Rush, president of Luxottica Wholesale N.A. “The optical market is transforming at an accelerated pace and to continue leading the development of the market, we need clear oversight across segments.”

Ludo Ladreyt has been appointed to the newly-created role of senior vice president, sales, for the N.A. optical channel. Ladreyt most recently served as Luxottica’s vice president of sales and marketing for Canada. Under his leadership, the organization delivered record growth last year in Canada during a key transitional moment, the company said. Prior to Canada, he built the U.S. key account channel to serve the growing needs of both national and regional accounts.

According to Luxottica, in the new structure, all optical customers from independent to key account will be served under one dedicated and customer-centric sales structure. Reporting to Ladreyt will be Alessandro Baronti and Nicola Perini (U.S. independents), Alessandro Lucanto (key accounts), Jennifer Brown (business development) and the Canadian independent and key account channels.

“The premium sun category remains one of the industry’s greatest opportunities for growth—today only 1 in 10 pairs of sunglasses sold provides the type of high quality design and UV protection that consumers need and desire,” added Rush.

Leading the development of the premium sun category in N.A., Peter Guthy, will continue as vice president of sales for department stores. Guthy and his team also oversee the boutique, premium and fast growing e-commerce channel for Luxottica, the company said.