Special feature
Q
Please tell me about
your background and
what led you to this new
role with Safilo.
A: As a kid born in North York, To-
ronto, and raised in Montreal, the
opportunity to collaborate and lead
Safilo Canada has been extremely
exciting. Considering that I started
my career in the industry with Sa-
filo Canada and have spent the last
three years as part of Safilo USA,
one can say I’ve come full circle.
The benefit of my experience is that
I’ve made my mistakes already;
optical is a complex business and
my experience has allowed me to
become a better leader. I’m focused
on developing the best talent and
agile teams to tackle this rapidly
evolving market with our customers
whose success is at the epicentre of
all of our strategies. Having rela-
tionships with the key players – and
what tools and solutions they need
– empowers our team to truly make
a difference.
Q
What are your short-
term priorities as
the head of Safilo
Canada?
A: Our focus is to continue to build
trust and confidence with our
partners, primarily from a deliv-
ery and service standpoint. Our
three main targets are: reducing
complexity, improving speed to
market and becoming a much more
customer-centric organization. We
are reinventing ourselves so that
we’re known as being the easiest to
do business with and one of the best
organizations to work with and for!
Q
What about the long
view. What are your
priorities for the long
term?
A: Positioning Safilo Canada as a
partner for our customers, match-
ing scale and capabilities to be close
to them and tailoring our services
to their needs. As a pure whole-
saler partner, we are not in direct
competition with our customers;
we want to provide our customers
with freedom of choice, partnership
and customized business solutions
in line with opticians’ day-to-day
needs, offering a powerful portfolio
and a consistent range of brands,
products and services. We are
working to gain speed and agility,
reorganizing ourselves to secure an
improved service to our customers
by listening to their needs.
Q
What should ECPs
know about Safilo as far
as the quality and repu-
tation of its eyewear?
A: Thanks to our strong crafts-
manship expertise dating back
to 1878, Safilo translates designs
into high-quality products created
according to long-standing Italian
tradition. Safilo’s capabilities from
a product standpoint are undenia-
ble and unrivaled. Consumers want
products that offer authenticity,
quality and align with a greater
purpose. Safilo is best suited to
deliver on all those points. We have
over 25 eyewear collections to meet
the needs of consumers at all price
points from our core owned brands
such as Carrera, Polaroid and
Smith, to luxury collections such
as BOSS, Fendi and Jimmy Choo
and fashion lifestyle brands like
kate spade new york and Tommy
Hilfiger. We are also excited to
welcome several new brands to
Safilo next year including, David
Beckham, Levi’s, Tommy Jeans,
Missoni and M Missoni.
Q
What excites you
about the eyecare/
eyewear industry
today?
A: Being at the forefront of our cus-
tomers’ journey and helping them
to stay abreast of the newest ways
to engage their patients in an agile
way. The emerging consumer is be-
ing inundated with information and
technology. We are excited to part-
ner with our ECPs on creating new
winning formulas to augment their
current service and care strategies.
Ultimately, helping them adapt to
the newest technologies favored by
more and more consumers. OP
Optical Prism | November 2019 21