Sue Downes, president of MyEyeDr
and Rob Samit, OD, founder.
VIENNA, Va.—The benefit of many years of vision care, managed care and optical retail experience—combined with the systems and processes to adapt its business model formula to new offices and markets— is behind a major new expansion push by MyEyeDr, the regional eyecare group based here.

Founded in 2001 by Robert Samit, OD and president Sue Downes, MyEyeDr has actively grown from its original group of offices in the Washington D.C./Virginia metro area to 46 locations in D.C., Virginia and Maryland, including Baltimore, as of the end of last year, many via organic store openings and some, select acquisitions. The group expects to be at 50 locations by the end of this month.

In December 2012, there was an infusion of private equity capital into the business, due to an undisclosed minority investment into the company from the Boston-based Monitor Clipper Partners. Therefore, MyEyeDr is now backed by capital and resources to even more rapidly expand the group’s presence throughout the U.S., the team told Vision Monday exclusively.

The company is preparing to reach out to independent eyecare professionals across much wider geography in the U.S., from up and down the East Coast to the Midwest and beyond. Both Samit and Downes along with David Sheffer, EVP business development explained that the team believes fervently its successful business model will bring “solutions” to the many independents looking for them. These doctors, they say, want to bring their practices into the wider fold of an organization which can enhance and better manage their business operations, while allowing doctors to focus specifically on what they like to do best—provide quality eyecare directly to patients.

Sheffer told VM, “We are confident we will be approaching 60 locations and $100 million in revenue by the end of 2013.”

Look for more details on MyEyeDr’s operation, growth, resources and its new expansion plan in an exclusive Newsmaker interview in Vision Monday, available on VisionMonday.com on March 18.