07/10/2025

Leadership 2025 Recap with Keenan Anderson

This year’s Leadership Conference was a very historic conference. This marked the 40th Leadership Conference and the beginning of a new era of opticianry. Today, I would like to share my experience with all of you, but before that, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Keenan Anderson. I am a licensed optician currently working for Eyenstein’s Optical in Lakewood, Ohio. I am newly licensed having attained my license in November of 2024. This year’s leadership conference is the second one I have been to. Having said that, I think I will have some valuable insight for students, apprentices, and newly licensed opticians about going to leadership for the first time, as I was in the same position as many of you only a year ago. 

2025’s Leadership Conference was held in Louisville, Kentucky. I am not that well travelled outside the state of Ohio, so the location was very new to me. I decided to drive to the city due to it being only 5 hours from my home in Cleveland. I was lucky enough to win the UOA/HOYA grant for the conference (which I highly recommend doing if you are a student, apprentice, or newly licensed optician) which was very beneficial and a lovely idea for the UOA to sponsor newcomers. The grant essentially paid for my whole stay there. The costs associated with booking the room to registration and even if you required a flight to the city were all paid for through the grant.  

I drove in on Thursday, June 5th which was the day before the conference actually started, but the UOA had set up a field trip for those who got to the hotel early. They scheduled a visit to two local companies: American Printing House and Kenmark Eyewear. I arrived in the nick of time to hop on the bus with the rest of the attendees. We went to the American Printing House (APH) first. I personally had never heard of them before, but after my visit, I was left wondering why I had never heard of them before? They are the United States’ biggest producer of materials for blind and low vision learning and development aids. Now I will say, they definitely do a lot more than that, but we were there to hear about and see how they made the products they produce. We started off by having an APH representative tell us a little about APH’s history, and about a new fully interactive museum centered around the blind and low vision community. The coolest thing about the museum is the fact that everything in it will be set up from a blind to low vision person’s perspective. Everything a person would be able to read will have a braille counterpart or an audio excerpt. Everything in the museum exhibits will be able to be touched. No penny is spared in the making of this extremely accessible museum. After hearing about the museum project they are currently working on, we were taken up to the second floor to watch and learn about the production of their learning and developmental products. This included us seeing the whole process of making braille books, children’s toys, teaching models for low vision persons, and everything in between. I had no idea half of these products even existed, let alone how much work goes into producing them. It was truly an eye opening experience. 

We departed the APH facility and returned to the bus to ride over to Kenmark Eyewear’s headquarters in Louisville. I was very excited about this visit. I had never visited a frame manufacturer’s facility before, and I really wanted to see the process of frame manufacturing (I am a big How It’s Made fan). We were greeted by Steve Mount (Kenmark’s VP of Sales) and Susan Parker (Kenmark’s VP of Supply Chain) in the front lobby of the facility. They took a moment to give us a brief history of the company as a whole and an overview of how their production works. They then split us into two groups to take us on a facility walkthrough. We started in their designing room where they brainstorm upcoming releases. They go through the process of designing a frame’s shape, color, material, and name. They then brainstorm the marketing behind the frames that are created, and when they are satisfied it is approved for production. We were then taken into their photo studio where they take promotional photos of their frames for official promos, magazine/news articles, and potential buyers. After that room we were taken through the administration offices to the warehouse floor where they did all of their frame shipping and organizing. They also had a very small finishing lab so they could experiment with different frame materials and assemblies for the design team. Proceeding the warehouse tour, the Kenmark team treated us to a small luncheon as a thank you for coming. It was an amazing experience through and through. 

As we disembarked from the Kenmark facility, we returned to the hotel for an hour of rest before a networking dessert event the UOA was putting on in the basement of the hotel. I should briefly mention that the hotel we were staying at was the historic Seelbach Hotel in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. It is renowned for being a popular rest spot for presidents, famous authors, and even gangsters. The hotel itself  looks very neat due to its 1920s art deco design. I mentioned this here because in the basement they have a cellar area with a lovely mosaic tiled ceiling where they set up the small dessert bar. There were plenty of standing tables, and a small bar in the corner of the room where you could buy drinks. The UOA was nice enough to provide each of us a free drink ticket with our name badge during registration. I stayed there for about an hour conversing with other attendees. Getting to know some new faces and reuniting with some familiar ones too. Afterwards, my roommate and I went to dinner at one of the local sports bars. There were plenty of restaurants to choose from in the area, and it was bustling even for a Thursday evening. I feel that one of the best parts of the conference having gone for 2 years at this point is the locale that they pick. They have the best way of choosing locations that are rich with history and community. There is always plenty to explore which will become evident later in my recounting. But after this eventful day, I was quite worn, and was craving some sleep, especially knowing that the conference starts at 8AM the next day, so I returned to my room to do just that. 

I woke up at 6AM to shower and get ready for the day, and was downstairs by 7AM. The UOA set up the conference in a very large event room on the hotel’s main level. They had two breakfast tables set up for all of the attendees to grab what they wished, and head into the event room to find a seat for the conference to start. I sat at the student table for this leadership conference as I did last year. Lisa Borque thought it would be a good way for me to speak with the new students about my past experience at last year’s conference. She also let me know that there were only three previous grant winners at this year's conference, which honestly surprised me, but I was glad that there were plenty of new recipients who will get to experience the conference for the first time. Pretty soon after everyone found their seats, the conference officially started. Every year, the leadership conference starts with a state roll call to get everyone excited for the conference. They have one of the speakers get on stage and name off states in alphabetical order, and after your state is called you give a holler. I of course represented Ohio with pride. Afterwards, Gwen Cooper got on stage to introduce herself and thank us all for coming. I, along with many others at the conference, was meeting Gwen for the first time. See for thirty nine years, the leadership conference was put on by the Optician’s Association of America (OAA), but recently a giant merger happened between the OAO, the American Board of Opticianry (ABO), and National Contact Lens Examiners (NCLE) that created a new bigger organization known as the United Opticians Association (UOA) which is one of the main reasons this conference was historic. When the UOA became official as an organization, they assigned the role of Executive Director to Gwen Cooper who is a newcomer to the world of opticianry, but not when it comes to organization management. In my opinion, Gwen Cooper was the perfect pick for an Executive Director. She was well spoken, a great public speaker, and a wonderful information liaison. I was very impressed with her opening speech. The next thing on the agenda was the theming or general idea of this particular conference. Each year’s conference has a general message that they use to get ideas across that resonate with its attendees. This year’s theme was The Power of OP (Optical Power). I personally really resonated with this theme. They essentially used it as an allegory for us as individuals, business, and associations to let us know we were the optical power, and we were the ones who have the power to change the optical landscape as far as visioncare goes. They also used a metaphor of our state associations being islands in a vast ocean, and having the UOA being a uniting force/idea bringing us together to help one another. I feel I cannot put it properly into words, but the message of we are all in this together really got to me. 

What followed the opening statements were the speaker presentations. The speaker presentations are the main draw of the conference for me and I feel many others. You get to hear these speakers get up on stage and speak on their expertise to their current field. You get to hear all of these passionate people speak on things you didn't know, thought you knew, or just a new perspective on a field you are familiar with. You get to learn so much just from hearing another person who is ingrained in their profession, and it hypes me up everytime without fail. It also allows you to take some really good notes on ways to excel in your personal journey through this career path. I took many notes from the conference, especially ones relating to customer relations and events management. After the speaker presentations are the break-out sessions which are more focused experiences where you can ask the speaker questions in a more personal development role. You also get to pick the one you go to, unless you are a student or apprentice. You guys get a couple of special break-out sessions catered to you that revolve around teamwork and getting to know the industry. Having done them last year, I would say they are a great way, if it is your first time, to loosen up and get to know everyone. This year I wanted to go to the main break-outs to build up my knowledge as a newly licensed optician. Directly following the break-out sessions is lunch which also doubles as the vendor/partners experience. That is a fancy way of saying you are able to go up to vendor’s tables to speak with them about their products and services. In the process, they also give out a lot of free incentives; pens, pins, notepads, totes, and plenty more. I always make it a point to talk to each vendor to learn about them. I feel that you learn quite a bit about the industry through talking to people in all facets of the profession. You also gain a lot of product knowledge as well.  After lunch and the partner experience there are a couple more speakers, and then it transitions to a closing statement to the first day which gives more credence to their Power of OP theme. Something I should have mentioned earlier is that during the opening statements right before the speaker presentations they let everyone know that there would be a delegate vote on the revised UOA bylaws the next day on Saturday, June 7th. Since UOA is a new organization that is replacing the OAA, they had to amend parts of the old bylaws (basically a code of conduct) to incorporate the new organization. Changing anything in the bylaws requires a majority delegate vote in order to be passed. They were letting us know that we would be voting on it the next day. 

The ending of the conference on the first day is only the beginning of the fun though. At the end of the first day, you have usually met quite a few people up to that point, and have already formed your kind of little group niche, which in my case was a small group of students, a speaker, and few others I met at the conference. They scheduled a bourbon tasting event for the conference due to us being in Louisville. I attended to try out the bourbon even though I do not like bourbon, and it was a great experience. They had a mini buffet and people walking around with finger foods. I meant up with my little niche of people, and after enjoying the scheduled get together we decided we wanted to do something outside the hotel. I feel as though it is a tradition at this point for the attendees to separate into their little groups and hit the town and see the sights, and we did just that. My group ended up going to see a local event the street over, and we stopped to eat as well. Afterwards we went on a walk to the Ohio river. We did a lot of sightseeing, including stopping at a lovely riverside park. On the way back to the hotel we also stopped to get ice cream. All in all, it is always a great experience to get to know your peers better in a relaxed environment. 

The beginning of the second and last conference day is always a mixed bag for me. There is always plenty more learning to be had, but I always have that kind of solemn feeling of knowing this is the last day. That Saturday, June 7th started much like the previous day; role call and opening statements, but today was the big day. Today we had to vote on the bylaws. The floor was opened up for questions about the bylaws (the revised bylaws were sent in an email for us peruse the day before). I feel that this was a very interesting event to witness, as I was also a delegate, so I had a say in the voting. What ensued started as just a few questions and concerns, and then quickly grew to some back and forth bickering between delegate members. It did get a bit heated, but in the end everyone agreed to unanimously vote in favor of passing the revised bylaws. After that, the day carried on like the day before. More speaker presentations, break-outs, lunch, until the award ceremony. This is where they recognize people who have made great contributions to opticianry, and where the students receive their grant letters. It is a really wonderful experience getting to see all of these career long experts get rewards for their hard work. It’s also great seeing everyone stand and clap in recognition of them. This year had a surprise in store for me as well. I got up to accept my grant letter like I had the year before, but after all of the grant recipients sat back down, my name and the name of another attendee were called back up to the stage for another reward. I was caught so off-guard that I looked to my roommate and asked if they said my name again. I went back on stage and they presented us with the Student to Leadership award which is given out to individuals who the UOA have noticed working hard to contribute to the field. I could not be more thankful for receiving this award. I currently have it hung up on my bedroom wall. After the award ceremony, was a closing statement that brought the whole message full center. It wrapped up the theme and left everyone knowing they can depend on the UOA should anyone need help on their journey. 

For my closing thoughts, I would say what always sticks with me, and keeps me coming back to both this profession and the leadership conference is the sense of community that I feel when I am there. When you attend this event, you can tell that everyone there is rooting for each other. You are surrounded by some of the biggest names in the industry, yet you are on the same level as them. You can freely go up to anyone, introduce yourself, and have a conversation. It really is a great feeling having everyone around you wanting the same thing; wanting to help people see.