Before all the excitement of this year’s Silmo d’Or awards, International Opticians Association (IOA) director of development Elaine Grisdale took to the stage to announce the winner of the prestigious International Optician of the Year award.
This year’s winner, Helen Whitaker from Canada, is the first woman to ever win. An optician since 2011, she runs Secure Vision Optical in British Columbia. She also developed a mobile optical business for Costco and founded the Secure Vision Mobile Optical Academy, which helps opticians get out into their communities to reach more people, which improves revenue and increases their job security. She also supports the Innovative Communities Foundation, both sponsoring Kenyan children and traveling to their communities to host eye clinics for the local learning centres.
Among this year’s six nominees was New Zealand’s John Billings. Although unable to attend, Billings said of the nomination, “Being considered for the title is the highlight of my year. The optical profession means the world to me; all things sight related play a huge part in my life.”
Billings is a practicing DO, working in the optics profession since 1989. He was the professional director of the Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians Board (ODOB) for three terms and has served on the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal and on the Association of Dispensing Opticians of New Zealand (ADONZ) executive committee. He specialises in low vision, is an independent director on the board of Blind Low Vision NZ and designed the Billings Rule for the accurate measurement of frames used by the Australasian College of Optical Dispensing (ACOD).
