NEW YORK—VisionSpring’s board of directors announced the promotion of Ella Gudwin from president to CEO of the organization. Gudwin joined VisionSpring as president in July 2015. Since then, the organization has tripled its impact from 400,000 corrective pairs to 1.2 million in 2018. In addition, the team has grown from 80 people, located across two countries, to more than 240 people in seven nations under her presidency. Gudwin’s promotion was a unanimous decision by the organization’s board of directors.

Reade Fahs, chairman of VisionSpring, said, “Where ever you are in the world, I know you will agree that Ella’s energy and commitment to our mission shines through. We are fortunate to find ourselves in the rare position of having both a charismatic founder in Jordan, and in Ella, a fearless spokesperson and ambassador for our cause and large-scale change. Ella – together with all of you – has VisionSpring poised for high growth. As a Board of Directors, we look forward to the shared fulfillment of this exciting and rewarding next chapter.”

VisionSpring was founded in 2001 with the goal of providing affordable, quality glasses to people around the world who lack access to them. Since then, they have distributed more than 5.5 million pairs of corrective lenses.