Valerie Manso

ABOC, FNAO

Valerie is the President of Manso Management Resources, Inc., a training and development company specializing in the ophthalmic industry. Additionally, Valerie works with Eyefinity/OfficeMate as Implementation Manager, supervising a team of Implementation Trainers to assist clients as they implement the OfficeMate and Exam Writer Software solutions. As a 38+ year veteran of the optical industry, Valerie brings a wealth of expertise to her current role. Her experiences include 14 years in retail fulfilling such functions as Store Manager, District Manager, National Operations Coordinator, National Training and Development Manager and Director of Retail Operations for a 60-store retail chain. Valerie's responsibilities at AOCO Ltd/Ltee, the retail chain, included the management of 28 affiliated Optometric practices, three wholesale labs and 270 retail employees, with all of the attendant challenges. In 1985 Valerie transferred to AOCO Ltd's parent company, American Optical, as National Training and Development Manager with a specific mandate to grow the manufacturer's chain retail business, while increasing American Optical's exposure at national education forums for the Independent Practitioner. Valerie has developed programs for, and lectured at every major eye care industry conference including, Optifair, Vision Expo East and West, EyeQuest, SESDO, NECO, OAA, OLA, SECO and many more. When Sola Optical USA Inc. decided to aggressively grow their all important premium spectacle lens business, they called on Valerie to join their management team as Director of Lens Consultants in April 1988. During her 5-year tenure with Sola, Valerie created, developed and managed the most successful detail force in today's ophthalmic spectacle lens industry. Her growth and development continued during her Sola years with promotions to Director of National Accounts, and Director of Account Management, Training and Development. In 1992, Valerie started Manso Management Resources Inc., a consulting company focused on training, business development and organizational development within the ophthalmic industry. Valerie's skills and experiences were used with a variety of clients such as, OfficeMate Software Solutions, Optical Dynamics, Detroit Optometric Centers, Insight Optical, Cohen's Fashion Optical, Sterling Optical, New York Eye, Alcon Laboratories, WalMart Stores, Inc., Kaiser Permanente, Younger Optics, Safilo USA, Signet Armorlite, Eyecare Business Magazine, Vision Expo (East and West), Vision Care Product News, Optometric Management Magazine and many more.