Speakers

Alex Wilkes joined National Vision as President in August 2024 and became Chief Executive Officer in August 2025. As CEO, he leads the company’s enterprise-wide strategy, growth and transformation efforts, focused on delivering long-term shareholder value by enhancing the customer and patient experience. With more than a decade of leadership in the eye care industry, Alex brings a strong track record of accelerating performance, operational excellence and developing strategies that position brands for sustained success. 

Previously, Alex served as President, Americas at CooperVision, a global leader in contact lenses. Prior to this, he spent more than a decade at EssilorLuxottica, a leading global eyewear company, most recently as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Pearle Vision, where he spearheaded the expansion of one of the largest franchises in the vision care industry, and as Vice President of Vision Care for LensCrafters. Alex’s early career as a management consultant included roles with Accenture and Deloitte. 

Alex holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Iowa.

Joe VanDette leads National Vision's Marketing function, spearheading go-to-market brand strategy, CRM, advertising and media, digital marketing, e-commerce, research and consumer insights. 

Joe brings more than 20 years of experience leading marketing efforts for retail chains. He most recently served as Chief Marketing and Digital Executive for Smart & Final, a chain of grocery warehouse stores, where he led business transformation and customer engagement and used data-driven strategies to achieve exponential growth in brand awareness and e-commerce business. Previously, Joe held various leadership roles in marketing, strategy and consumer analytics for Toys "R" Us.

Joe studied at Pennsylvania State University, where he obtained a B.S. in Management Science and Information Systems.

Ana Moeddel serves as Chief Merchandising & Managed Care Officer at National Vision. She oversees product, pricing, manufacturing, distribution and all Managed Vision Care functions, including strategy and revenue cycle management. 

Ana most recently served as Chief Growth Officer of Community Veterinary Partners, a network of veterinary hospitals. Prior to that, she spent a decade at Luxottica in various leadership roles, including Vice President of Operations and General Manager for TeamVision, where she helped define, design and implement a new business unit for the organization. She also held Vice President roles in product, pricing, managed care, strategy, real estate, ecommerce, customer experience and business development across multiple Luxottica retail brands including LensCrafters and Target Optical. 

Ana is also the founder and CEO of Little Learning Hands, an educational subscription kit company for children launched in 2018. 

She earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Computers from Academia de Studii Economice din București in Bucharest, Romania and an M.B.A. in Corporate Strategy from Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Mark Banner leads National Vision's America's Best brand, overseeing the retail operations and clinical services teams for all America’s Best locations. He is a passionate leader who believes in giving teams the tools they need to focus on the customer experience and build the trusting relationships that drive long-term brand loyalty, customer enthusiasm and, ultimately, financial success. 

Mark joined National Vision as Chief Stores Officer in 2024, bringing over 20 years of retail and operations experience. Mark previously served as the Senior Vice President, Retail and Real Estate, of Sleep Number Corporation, where he led all sales, stores, operations, promotions and credit, digitally assisted retail, real estate and maintenance teams. Prior to joining Sleep Number, Mark served as Vice President of Strategic Integration at Signet Jewelers, in addition to various operations and managerial roles during his 18 years with Signet and its subsidiary, Sterling Jewelers. 

Mark holds a bachelor's degree in organizational studies from Saint Louis University and an M.B.A. from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Priti Patel, O.D. serves as General Manager of Eyeglass World, Fred Meyer and Military stores. In this role, she spearheads high-impact growth strategies that drive excellence in store operations, elevate the customer experience and deliver strong financial results. 

With more than 20 years of clinical and operational experience in the optical industry, Dr. Patel previously held the role of Chief Medical Officer at National Vision as well as President and CEO of FirstSight Vision Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of National Vision. Prior to that, she led Walmart’s U.S. professional affairs, managing business and clinical relationships with over 3,000 optometrists. 

Dr. Patel holds a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Alabama and earned her Doctor of Optometry degree from Nova Southeastern College of Optometry. She completed her residency in Primary Care and Ocular Disease at Salus University. A respected thought leader, she serves on multiple healthcare advisory boards.

David Cutler is the Chief Technology Officer at National Vision, bringing deep expertise in Agentic AI, cloud solutions, enterprise software and technology strategy, along with a proven record of scaling high-performance teams. 

David spent nearly two decades at Slalom, a business and technology consulting firm, where he most recently served as General Manager and Global Lead for Technology Enablement, overseeing practices including cloud, business applications, data platforms and enterprise architecture. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director for Slalom from 2008 to 2016 and during that time also co-founded and served as CEO of mLevel, a Slalom corporate learning company later acquired by Axonify. 

David earned a B.S. in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University.

Jared Brandman serves as National Vision’s Chief Legal & Strategy Officer and Secretary. In his role he oversees corporate strategy, legal, compliance, government relations and sustainability functions. Jared serves on the boards of 20/20 Quest, Inc., a National Vision sponsored foundation that provides eye care and eyewear to the optically underserved; Toku, Inc., a private start-up applying AI-powered diagnostic and screening tools to retinal imaging; and the National Association of Retail Optical Companies. 

Jared joined National Vision in 2017 as Vice President, Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary and was promoted to General Counsel in 2019, following the company’s successful IPO in 2017. Prior to joining National Vision, Jared served as Securities Counsel at The Coca-Cola Company from 2010 to 2017. He began his legal career practicing at international law firms in Atlanta, New York and London. 

Jared received a B.A from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Emory University School of Law.

Bill Clark joined National Vision as its first Chief People Officer in 2019. Bill leads the organization’s Human Resources and Organizational Development functions, using his deep experience in attracting, developing and retaining great retail talent. He also oversees Transformation, Enterprise PMO and Change Management. 

Bill is an accomplished human resources leader with a strong emphasis on people, team and organizational development. Before joining National Vision, Bill served as Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Five Below, Inc. where he led all areas of human resources. 

Prior to Five Below, Bill served as Vice President of Retail HR at Dollar General Corporation, supporting the human resource needs for over 12,000 stores and 100,000 associates. He spent the prior decade in executive leadership roles with Walmart and Sam’s Club, including VP of Field Human Resources, VP of Talent Management and VP of HR Administration and Strategy. 

He obtained both a master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma. He is also active in the HBCU Entrepreneurship and Innovation organization.

Chris Laden serves as Chief Financial Officer of National Vision, guided by nearly two decades of experience leading finance organizations in the service and optical industries. He has a strong track record of driving strategic financial initiatives, implementing modern business strategies and optimizing operations to create value. 

Before joining National Vision, Chris was Chief Financial Officer at Community Veterinary Partners, where he led financial strategy for a rapidly growing network of veterinary hospitals across the U.S. Prior to that, he served as the CFO for Women's Care and MD Now Urgent Care. Chris also brings extensive experience in the optical industry, having held key leadership roles at Pearle Vision, a division of EssilorLuxottica. As Head of Finance, he was responsible for all financial functions and played a critical role in driving profitability through revenue growth and cost management. 

Chris earned a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Florida.