Group chief executive of UltraVision to step down

The group chief executive of UltraVision CLPL, J Keith Lomas, has announced that he will step down from the role in early 2017.

Mr Lomas will hand over his day-to-day management responsibilities for the specialist contact lens company, but will remain on the board as a non-executive director and co-owner.

In equal partnership since 1996, Mr Lomas and John Clamp have grown what was a small specialist contact lens laboratory in Cambridge into the UK’s leading and most profitable operation.

Manufacturing and selling contact lenses in more than 70 countries, the UltraVision CLPL Group also supplies industry-leading software and designs to major contact lens manufacturers globally and has twice been awarded The Queen’s Award for Enterprise in innovation.

Following the handover transition period, Mr Clamp and the company’s executive management team will take on the additional day-to-day responsibilities of the chief executive’s role from early 2017.

Reflecting on the company’s development, Mr Lomas said: “I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved so far. Our successes include life-changing benefits for many thousands of people with lenses, such as KeraSoft, and having our lens designs and software running in virtually all of the major US labs, plus in Europe, South America, Asia, Australasia, indeed all round the world.

“When contact lens manufacturers want new designs, software and R&D support they come to us, from daily disposable ranges to the most specialist lenses.”

Looking to the company’s future, Mr Lomas added: "Investing in our own cast-moulding facilities is proving fruitful and our university partnerships are also key, along with the truly advanced areas we work in, such as putting electronics into contact lenses and intraocular lenses."

“We’ve got a fantastic pipeline of new products and exciting patents to build further on, both directly and with partners,” he concluded.

The company is highlighting that there are no other changes to the board of directors.

For more information, visit the UltraVision website.