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Nomination forms requesting submissions for Vision Monday’s 6th Annual “Most Influential Women in Optical” report were issued via Jobson’s Vision Monday, 20/20 and Review of Optometry publications and Web sites during the months of May and June 2008.

This year’s request for nominations was structured differently than in prior years. The purpose of this was to widen the scope of women we continue to recognize in the report, who make leadership contributions throughout the ECP, retail, supplier, lab, managed care and association landscape.

Readers were asked to make up to three nominations per the following categories: Executive Suite, Mentors, Rising Stars and Innovators. The nomination form defined these as: Executive Suite--Candidates are women who hold the positions of president, CEO, CFO, CMO, CIO or COO that guide their companies forward, inspire leadership among their teams and peers and achieve high performance. They are industry influencers who set the tone for their companies and the industry. Mentors--Candidates are women who are team builders, developers of talent, who via example or education and training successfully influence others to learn and to grow in their business or professional acumen, within their organizations or among others in the industry. Rising Stars--Candidates are women who are “up-and-comers” within their companies or arenas within the industry; sharp talents who are on their way toward higher levels of responsibility and influence. Innovators--Candidates are women who have initiated new product developments or special programs in marketing, technology or retail, who have spearheaded innovative business ideas or enterprises that are achieving marked success and reinventing old ideas.

The “Influential Women” process is not a vote or a ranking. The number of nominations received did not determine final selection. More than 230 nominations were reviewed and categorized. Vision Monday’s editors reviewed each entry and made the final selection.

The “Chosen Because...” selections are drawn from the nominations submitted for each candidate. Honorees are organized alphabetically by category. ■