NEW YORK—Luxottica Group (NYSE: LUX) has established a new "management committee" to lead its North America Retail and Managed Vision care businesses, with a series of senior executive moves announced internally on Jan. 14 and effective immediately, VMail has learned.

In response to a series of questions about the new structure and executive responsibilities, a Luxottica group spokesperson confirmed that four senior executives heading retail and managed care will now report to Andrea Guerra, Luxottica's CEO. The spokesperson told VMail, "North America is the most important region of the world for Luxottica, with still many untapped opportunities between its businesses, brands, managed vision care, manufacturing and shared services. As the Group moves into 2011 and beyond, and in today’s global market, Luxottica recognized the need to manage complexities across boundaries and maximize the opportunities with a different approach. It therefore decided to take the leadership approach of team management. The principle behind this approach is simple—to create a team for joint decision-making across all parts of Luxottica’s business."

The spokesperson continued, "Consistently with the new approach, a new management committee to lead the North America Retail and Managed Vision care business was established. It will be responsible for managing the various complexities between Luxottica’s brands, manufacturing and managed vision care businesses and the business services necessary to support them. All of these areas are represented in the Committee which, as a team, will now own the strategies and decision-making required to meet Luxottica’s current and future needs."

Among the changes, the spokesperson confirmed, "Kerry Bradley, president of Optical Retail, will move to a new role as chairman, vision development. Kerry’s leadership as president and COO over the last nine years has resulted in North America’s strong retail position today. Kerry will be involved on other Luxottica projects while leveraging his deep knowledge of managed vision care, retail and business operations. Kerry will continue reporting to Andrea Guerra, Luxottica Group CEO.

"Liz DiGiandomenico is named president, Luxottica Vision Care. Liz has been with Luxottica for 18 years, demonstrating passion for customer service, quality and vision issues. Liz will expand her responsibilities to include Optical Partnerships and OneSight, which along with EyeMed/Managed Vision Care, combine to drive the eyecare industry. Liz will report to Andrea Guerra, and also to Kerry, who will be a resource as she leads the Vision Care strategies going forward.
"Tom Coleman, president and general manager, LensCrafters, has served Luxottica on challenging projects around the world for the last 24 years. Under his recent leadership, LensCrafters has achieved the highest sales in the history of the brand: due to medical reasons, regretfully Tom has made a difficult personal decision to step away from LensCrafters.

"Mark Weikel, senior vice president and general manager, Sunglass Hut, becomes president and general manager, LensCrafters. With 30 years of retail experience, Mark brings seasoned leadership and customer passion to the LC team as they continue to drive the next generation of optical services and experiences to lead the category. Mark will report directly to Andrea Guerra. Mark leaves Sunglass Hut in a strong position with great 2010 results and solid plans outlined for the future. Fabio d'Angelantonio, chief marketing officer and global business leader of Sun & Luxury Retail, will temporarily assume business operations for Sunglass Hut." The Sun & Luxury Retail business unit, which includes SGH and Ilori, overseen by d'Angelantonio, was established in February 2009.

The spokesperson continued, "Seth McLaughlin becomes executive vice president, overseeing Pearle Vision, Licensed Brands and Canada Optical, reporting to Andrea Guerra. Seth has served Luxottica over 16 years, demonstrating a strong ability to establish teams and manage resources, talent and priorities to support critical business needs. Eric Anderson, SVP and general manager of Target Optical; Daryl Hammett, SVP and general manager of Sears Optical; and George Minakakis, SVP and general manager of Optical Brands Canada, will now report to Seth."