CooperVision Appoints Alex Wilkes as President, Americas

SAN RAMON, Calif., May 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CooperVision, one of the world's leading manufacturers of contact lenses, has named Alex Wilkes as President, Americas, effective June 14. Wilkes brings more than a decade of experience in the eye care industry, having most recently served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Pearle Vision at Luxottica.

At CooperVision, Wilkes will be responsible for the executive leadership and driving the growth of the company's largest region, determining the strategic direction for the United States, Canada, and Latin America.

"In the years Alex has spent in vision care, he has led the expansion of one of the largest franchises in the industry, working directly with eye care professionals to build their businesses while playing a key role in branding, marketing, operations, product strategy, and supply chain management," said Mark Harty, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, CooperVision. "Alex's proven track record of driving growth, developing market-shifting strategies, and leading high-performing teams is sure to benefit CooperVision and our customers in the years ahead."

"The current pace of change in the optical category is unprecedented, and I'm thrilled to join the talented team at CooperVision to deliver some of the most innovative products in the market to eye care professionals and their patients," said Wilkes. "I have admired CooperVision for many years and I am completely aligned with the values and direction of the company."

Wilkes joined Luxottica in 2010 as Senior Director of Strategy and Business Development, where he was responsible for the strategic planning and implementation of several growth initiatives for LensCrafters. In 2012, he was promoted to the Vice President of Vision Care for LensCrafters. As part of the executive leadership team, he had responsibility for 3,000 eye care professionals, all clinical services, and the company's contact lens portfolio.

Prior to that, Wilkes was a management consultant at Accenture for more than five years, with a focus on the consumer products, retail, and telecommunications industries. Earlier in his career, he was a consultant at Deloitte. Wilkes earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa. He will be based at CooperVision's offices in Victor, N.Y.

Wilkes succeeds Jerry Warner, who was promoted to President of CooperVision in February 2022.

About CooperVision
CooperVision, a division of CooperCompanies (NYSE: COO), is one of the world's leading manufacturers of contact lenses. The company produces a full array of daily disposable, two-week and monthly soft contact lenses that feature advanced materials and optics, and premium rigid gas permeable lenses for orthokeratology and scleral designs. CooperVision has a strong heritage of addressing the toughest vision challenges such as astigmatism, presbyopia, childhood myopia, and highly irregular corneas; and offers the most complete portfolio of spherical, toric and multifocal products available. Through a combination of innovative products and focused practitioner support, the company brings a refreshing perspective to the marketplace, creating real advantages for customers and wearers. For more information, visit www.coopervision.com.

About CooperCompanies
CooperCompanies ("Cooper") is a global medical device company publicly traded on the NYSE (NYSE: COO). Cooper operates through two business units, CooperVision and CooperSurgical. CooperVision brings a refreshing perspective on vision care with a commitment to developing a wide range of high-quality products for contact lens wearers and providing focused practitioner support. CooperSurgical is committed to advancing the health of women, babies and families with its diversified portfolio of products and services focusing on medical devices and fertility & genomics. Headquartered in San Ramon, Calif., Cooper has a workforce of more than 12,000 with products sold in over 100 countries. For more information, please visit www.coopercos.com. 

Media Contact
Heather Kowalczyk, APR, McDougall Communications for CooperVision 
heather@mcdougallpr.com or +1 (585) 434-2148

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SOURCE CooperVision