SPEAKER BIOS

MARCH 7, 2018 | 1 

Robert D. Atkinson is founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation 

(ITIF), recognized as the world’s top think tank for science and technology policy. Atkinson’s books 

include Big is Beautiful: Debunking the Mythology of Small Business (MIT Press, 2018), Innovation 

Economics: The Race for Global Advantage (Yale, 2012), and The Past And Future Of America’s 

Economy: Long Waves Of Innovation That Power Cycles Of Growth (Edward Elgar, 2005). He also has 

conducted groundbreaking research projects and authored hundreds of articles and reports on 

technology and innovation-related topics ranging from tax policy to advanced manufacturing, 

productivity, and global competitiveness. President Clinton appointed Atkinson to the Commission on 

Workers, Communities, and Economic Change in the New Economy; the Bush administration 

appointed him chair of the congressionally created National Surface Transportation Infrastructure 

Financing Commission; and the Obama administration appointed him to the National Innovation and 

Competitiveness Strategy Advisory Board. Atkinson holds a Ph.D. in city and regional planning from the 

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. For further biographical information on Atkinson, visit 

itif.org/person/robert-d-atkinson. 

Alex Bargar is Director of Clinical Services at Simple Contacts where he oversees legal and regulatory 

compliance, government relations, clinical operations, and corporate strategy. Alex was the first 

employee hired at Simple Contacts - which is now a team of more than 40 employees, based primarily 

in New York City. At Simple Contacts, Alex has helped develop one of the very first ocular telemedicine 

platforms. Prior to his work at Simple Contacts, Alex was on the corporate strategy team at Horizon 

Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey where he focused primarily on enabling a transition to valuebased healthcare payments in the state of New Jersey. Alex also evaluated business development and 

strategic investment opportunities. Alex started his career as a management consultant at ZS 

Associates, specializing in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device industries.

Alysa Bernstein is an attorney in the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Advertising Practices in 

the Bureau of Consumer Protection. Ms. Bernstein is responsible for enforcement of the Contact Lens 

Rule and the Eyeglass Rule, and is involved in the regulatory review of these Rules. Ms. Bernstein also 

focuses on advertising matters, including investigating deceptive health-related claims. She previously 

worked in the FTC’s Office of the General Counsel. She received her J.D. from the Villanova University 

School of Law and her B.A. from the University of Delaware.

Edward Chaum, MD, PhD, is the University of Tennessee Hamilton Eye Institute, inaugural Plough 

Foundation Professor of Retinal Diseases, and Professor of Pediatrics, Anatomy & Neurobiology and 

Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Chaum will become the Margy Ann and J. Donald M. Gass Professor of 

Ophthalmology at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute in April 2018. He obtained his undergraduate degree 

from Johns Hopkins University and his M.D., Ph.D. from Cornell University. He is board certified in 

Pediatrics and Ophthalmology and completed retina fellowship training at the Massachusetts Eye and 

Ear Infirmary. He is the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions throughout his academic career 

including: AΩA Honor Medical Society; National Eye Institute Research Career Award; Best Doctors in 
The Contact Lens Rule

and the Evolving Contact Lens Marketplace

MARCH 7, 2018 | 2

America®; Research to Prevent Blindness Senior Scientist Award; an R&D 100 Award; an American 

Telemedicine Association Innovation Award; and others. He is the author of 80 basic science papers, 

five book chapters and a textbook in the fields of molecular biology, biomedical engineering, image 

analysis, and clinical medicine and is a listed co-author in 140 national clinical trials publications in 

Ophthalmology and diabetes. Dr. Chaum seeks to champion the translation of innovative technologies 

into meaningful use in clinical practice to improve the public health by developing and implementing 

novel health care tools and paradigms. He is a serial entrepreneur with seven authored patents. Dr. 

Chaum serves as a consulting chief medical officer to the Welch Allyn RetinaVue Network and as a 

consultant to Rx Renewal, LLC, an affiliate of 1-800 Contacts, Inc., which provided financial assistance 

for his travel and participation in the FTC Workshop. 

Richard Cleland joined the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Advertising Practices in 1991. In 

1996, Mr. Cleland was appointed Assistant to the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection and, 

in 1998, he was appointed Assistant Director of the Division of Service Industry Practices. He currently 

serves as Assistant Director of the Division of Advertising Practices. His primary area of expertise is the 

advertising and marketing of health-related products and services. He also supervises many of the 

Commission’s health-related initiatives. Currently, Mr. Cleland is supervising review of the Contact Lens 

Rule.

David A. Cockrell, OD, Diplomate American Board of Optometry, graduated from Southern College of 

Optometry in 1981. He practices in Stillwater, OK. With a team of five primary eye care physicians, his 

practice’s main focus is on management and treatment of all vision related problems and eye diseases. 

His practice regularly sees patients with conjunctivitis, cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and 

macular degeneration. Dr. Cockrell also cares for patients by providing surgery for lid procedures and 

laser surgeries for glaucoma and secondary cataract. He is a past president of the American Optometric 

Association, past president of the Oklahoma Association of Optometric Physicians and past Chairman 

of the American Board of Optometry. He currently serves as Advocacy Group Chair for the American 

Optometric Association. Dr. Cockrell has lectured throughout the United States on primary eye care 

topics and has provided professional testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Judiciary, 

Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights; the Oklahoma Senate and House 

of Representatives; as well as many other U.S. State legislative and administrative bodies. The AOA 

provided support for his participation at the workshop.

James C. Cooper is Associate Professor of Law and Director, Program on Economics & Privacy at 

George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. Before joining George Mason University, Cooper 

served as Deputy and Acting Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Office of Policy Planning, 

Advisor to Federal Trade Commissioner William Kovacic, and as an associate in the antitrust group of 

Crowell and Moring, LLP. His research interests include the economics of privacy and data security and 

competition policy.

Jennifer Cope, MD, MPH, is a medical epidemiologist and infectious disease physician with the 

Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch in the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious 

Diseases. She oversees CDC’s Healthy Contact Lens program and has published several articles on 
The Contact Lens Rule

and the Evolving Contact Lens Marketplace

MARCH 7, 2018 | 3

contact lens wearer behaviors and risk factors for contact lens-associated eye infections. Dr. Cope 

began her career at CDC in 2009 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer assigned to the North 

Dakota Department of Health. She joined the Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch as a Preventive 

Medicine Resident in 2011 and transitioned to her current role as medical epidemiologist in 2013. Dr. 

Cope obtained a B.S. in Microbiology from Penn State University and received her medical degree from 

the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She completed residency training in internal medicine 

at the Emory University hospitals and Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and infectious disease 

fellowship training at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. She is board certified in 

infectious diseases.

Elizabeth A. Delaney is an attorney in the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Advertising Practices, 

where she has primary responsibility for the review of the Contact Lens Rule. She rejoined the Division 

in 2015, after serving as an Attorney Advisor for Commissioners Joshua Wright, J. Thomas Rosch, and 

Thomas Leary. As an Attorney Advisor, she counseled the Commissioners on consumer protection 

matters and policy issues, and assisted in formulating policy positions and drafting statements and 

speeches. Before joining the FTC in 2000, she practiced law with a firm in Washington, D.C. She 

received her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

Malvina Eydelman, MD, is a board-certified ophthalmologist. For over 20 years, as an Expert Medical 

Officer, Senior Medical Advisor, Director of FDA’s Division of Ophthalmic, Neurological and Ear, Nose 

and Throat Devices (DONED), and Director of the FDA’s Division of Ophthalmic and Ear, Nose and 

Throat Devices (DOED), Dr. Eydelman has played a key role in assuring the safety and effectiveness of 

ophthalmic medical devices. She has been actively involved in standardization of ophthalmic devices as 

the U.S. Expert Delegate to the International Standards Organization and FDA’s Liaison to the American 

National Standards Institute‘s Committee for Ophthalmic Devices. Dr. Eydelman has served as the 

Principal Investigator for several ophthalmic clinical and laboratory studies. She has spearheaded 

numerous initiatives designed to improve the safety and effectiveness of ophthalmic devices. Dr. 

Eydelman originated many symposia and workshops to facilitate ophthalmic device innovation. Her 

broad ophthalmic interests have resulted in a United States patent, numerous publications, and many 

speaking engagements.

Mary K. Engle directs the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Advertising Practices. The Division is 

responsible for enforcing truth-in-advertising principles for national advertising matters, including 

claims about food, dietary supplements, and medical devices, as well as social media and digital 

technology marketing practices. Ms. Engle joined the FTC as a staff attorney in 1990, has held a 

number of management positions in the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, and has served as an 

advisor to a Commissioner. Before joining the FTC, Ms. Engle practiced law with a firm in Washington, 

D.C. She received a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and an A.B. from Harvard 

University.

Beth Freeborn is an economist in the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Consumer Protection in 

the Bureau of Economics. She has published articles focusing on law and economics, industrial

organization, and experimental economics. She has contributed to FTC staff reports on consumer 
The Contact Lens Rule

and the Evolving Contact Lens Marketplace

MARCH 7, 2018 | 4

credit reporting accuracy and the use of credit based insurance scoring. Ms. Freeborn joined the FTC in 

2011, after serving on the faculty at the College of William and Mary where she taught microeconomic 

theory and industrial organization. She earned her undergraduate degree and her Ph.D. from the 

University of Virginia.

Daniel J. Gilman is an attorney advisor in the Federal Trade Commission’s Office of Policy Planning, 

where he works on competition issues in health care and technology and, more broadly, on the 

competitive impact of regulation. He co-authored the FTC staff policy paper, Policy Perspectives: 

Competition and the Regulation of Advanced Practice Nurses, contributed to the FTC Staff Report, 

Broadband Connectivity Competition Policy, and has been published in diverse academic journals, such 

as the Georgetown Law Journal, the Journal of Health Care Law & Policy, Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 

and the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. He visited Harvard Law School as the Victor H. 

Kramer Foundation Fellow from 2014-15. Mr. Gilman came to the FTC from the University of Maryland, 

where he taught law and economics, health-science law, and torts. Before that, he was in private 

practice in Washington, D.C., an Olin Fellow and Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown, and a faculty 

member at Penn State University and at Washington University in St. Louis. He holds a J.D. from 

Georgetown, an A.B. from Dartmouth College, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

John Graham is the Chief Executive Officer at 1-800 Contacts. Mr. Graham joined 1-800 Contacts in 

January of 2009 as the Senior Vice President of Business Development. Subsequently he held roles as 

President of glasses.com, COO and President. He became CEO upon the retirement of Brian Bethers at 

the beginning of this year. Before joining 1-800 Contacts, Mr. Graham was a Principal with the Boston 

Consulting Group in Dallas, Stockholm, and Johannesburg. Before that, he held marketing, ecommerce, and strategy roles at Hewlett Packard and Mrs. Fields, and began his career as an engineer 

for a pharmaceutical start-up. He received his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a degree in 

materials science & engineering from the University of Utah.

Christopher M. Grengs is an attorney in the Bureau of Competition’s Office of Policy & Coordination at 

the Federal Trade Commission. He works with staff across the Commission to coordinate research and 

advocacy efforts on a wide variety of complex legal and economic policy issues. In particular, he has 

made significant contributions to the Commission’s research and policy activities in the areas of 

telecommunications, including broadband Internet access, smartphone applications for arranging 

passenger motor vehicle transportation, and mortgage disclosure reform, among others. Grengs 

earned his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School and his B.A. in Economics and Political 

Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Bob Hubbard is an Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Bureau of the New York Attorney 

General's office, where he has worked since 1987. Bob has a J.D. from Fordham and an M.B.A. from 

N.Y.U. Bob has represented New Yorkers and the residents of other states in major multistate antitrust 

litigation, including In re Disposable Contact Lens Antitrust Litigation, M.D.L. 1030 (M.D. Fla.). He 

testified in support of the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act and led efforts of states 

commenting on the implementation of that Act. From May 2005 through August 2009, Bob served as 

chair of the Multistate Antitrust Task Force of the National Association of Attorneys General. His 
The Contact Lens Rule

and the Evolving Contact Lens Marketplace

MARCH 7, 2018 | 5

writings and other materials are collected on his website, www.roberthubbard.net. Bob is speaking for 

himself, not his employer or any other attorney general.

Steve Kodey is the Senior Director of Industry Research for The Vision Council. As part of The Vision 

Council “Members Services” team, Steve is responsible for the administration and implementation of 

the association’s core research programs for the Council’s 750+ members. These programs include 

VisionWatch (US and Canada consumer based market survey), ECP retail surveys, The Vision Council 

shipments program (wholesale market activity), I.O.T.A. (international trade activity in lenses and 

frames), and the Eyewear and Accessories Benchmark Dashboard Study (financial and operating 

ratios). Steve is also responsible for providing research support services to other Vision Council 

departments, divisions, and committees often dealing in research involving public awareness of vision 

care and trade show activity and behaviors. He has worked for The Vision Council since February 2005. 

Prior to coming on board with The Vision Council, Steve was the Manager of Economic and Market 

Research at the Printing Industries of America in Alexandria, VA for five years. He has a B.A. in 

Economics from The Richard Stockton College of NJ and is working toward his M.S. in Survey 

Methodology from The University of Maryland.

Tara Isa Koslov is the Acting Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Office of Policy Planning. She 

was named to the position in June 2016, having served as OPP’s Deputy Director since March 2011. Her 

portfolio spans a broad range of competition and consumer protection issues, with a particular 

emphasis on health care matters and competition advocacy. Ms. Koslov previously spent almost twelve 

years as an Attorney Advisor to three different FTC commissioners, and also worked as an enforcement 

attorney in the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, following several years in private practice. She has been 

active in the leadership of the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law since 1997 and 

currently is a member of the Section’s Council. Ms. Koslov earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School 

and an A.B. from Brown University.

Carol Lakkis, BScOptom, PhD, PGCertOcTher, FAAO, FACO, FBCLA, Clinical Research Fellow, Head of

Applied Clinical Sciences for Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., is a graduate of the University of 

Melbourne, Australia, where she was awarded her Bachelor of Science in Optometry in 1991 and her 

Ph.D. in Ocular Microbiology in 1999. She has over 100 publications, has lectured extensively and is 

recognized internationally as an expert in Ocular Microbiology and Contact Lens-Related Infection and 

Inflammation. Dr. Lakkis has held various academic positions including Senior Fellow at the University 

of Melbourne, Department of Optometry & Vision Sciences; Assistant Clinical Professor at the 

University of California, Berkeley, School of Optometry; and Adjunct Associate Professor at Queensland 

University of Technology. Dr. Lakkis was Director of Research, Clinical Vision Research Australia, 

Australian College of Optometry from 2002-2010, prior to joining Johnson & Johnson Vision. Dr. Lakkis 

is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, Australian College of Optometry and British 

Contact Lens Association, and a Councillor of the International Society of Contact Lens Research.

Wallace W. Lovejoy, Lovejoy Eyecare Consulting LLC, is an independent health care consultant, 

specializing in eye care and optical retailing. His clients include the National Association of 

Optometrists and Opticians (NAOO), many of the top optical retailers in the US, private equity 
The Contact Lens Rule

and the Evolving Contact Lens Marketplace

MARCH 7, 2018 | 6

organizations exploring investment opportunities in the ophthalmic goods and services sector, and 

other health and wellness companies affected by regulation of health care services and prescription 

products. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Smart Vision Labs, a technology 

company that increases access to vision care via telemedicine. He served as a Director for Digital Vision 

Systems in 2014 and 2015. Mr. Lovejoy was previously the Senior Vice President, Eye Care 

Development at Luxottica Retail North America (LRNA). He was chair of the Board of Directors of 

EYEXAM of California and responsible for the operation of over 300 optometric offices owned and 

operated by Luxottica Retail companies. He is the past chair of the Board of the Foundation for Eye 

Health Awareness. He also served for over ten years as a member of the OneSight Foundation Board of 

Directors. He has served as chair of the Board of the NAOO and the original “Think About Your Eyes” 

coalition. Prior to joining LensCrafters in 1986, Mr. Lovejoy was regulatory counsel at Pearle Vision and 

an attorney with the Federal Trade Commission. He has a J.D. from the University of Texas, an M.A.

(economics) from Northwestern and a B.A. from SMU. Mr. Lovejoy is appearing as a consultant to the 

NAOO.

Zachary S. McCarty, OD, completed his undergraduate work at Transylvania University in Lexington, 

KY, during 2002, earning a B.A. in Biology with a minor in Philosophy. In 2006, he received his Doctor of 

Optometry degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry (UAB). While at 

UAB, Dr. McCarty was selected by the Dean as the Outstanding Optometry Student in his class. In 

addition, his classmates presented him with the class “Leadership Award.” Dr. McCarty completed a 

residency in Pediatrics and Ocular Disease at SouthEast Eye Specialists in 2007. Upon completion of his 

residency, Dr. McCarty joined the practice as a staff Optometrist and has fulfilled the role of Chief 

Medical Information Officer since 2008. Dr. McCarty is the current President and Third-Party Chair of 

the Tennessee Association of Optometric Physicians, and an active member of the American 

Optometric Association, serving as the Chair of the Quality Improvement and Registry Committee (AOA 

MORE). He has participated in the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigative Group (PEDIG). In addition, he is a 

past President of the UAB School of Optometry Alumni Board. The AOA provided support for his 

participation at the workshop.

Peter Menziuso serves as President, North America, for Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., leading 

the company’s U.S. and Canadian Vision Care businesses. Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. 

manufactures ACUVUE® Brand Contact Lenses, the world’s best-selling contact lenses and the Blink® 

Family of Products. A global pharmaceutical and medical device professional, Peter has spent more 

than 25 years building business and brands at Johnson & Johnson. In a range of opportunities 

throughout the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, he has gained broad international experience 

across multiple sectors, companies, and functions. He began his career with Johnson & Johnson in 

1992 in the pharmaceutical sector holding various positions of increasing responsibility within the 

finance organization focused on sales & marketing, supply chain, business development, and Asian 

markets. Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. in March 2016, Peter served as Vice 

President, Worldwide Marketing for Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Solutions where he was responsible 

for developing and articulating the company’s global strategy for increasing competitiveness in the 

consumer medical device marketplace and for building and strengthening the OneTouch® Brand across 

the entire diabetes product portfolio. He has also held several leadership positions within LifeScan, 
The Contact Lens Rule

and the Evolving Contact Lens Marketplace

MARCH 7, 2018 | 7

including serving as Vice President of North America Sales & Market Development and General 

Manager of LifeScan Canada. Peter earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of 

Scranton.

Joseph B. Neville is the Executive Director of the National Association of Optometrists and Opticians 

(NAOO), a nationwide organization representing the retail optical industry whose members offer the 

availability of eye examinations co-located with optical dispensaries. Prior to assuming that role, he 

served as an officer and director of the organization during over 30 years in the optical industry. Mr. 

Neville’s experience includes working as Associate General Counsel for Luxottica Retail North America 

focusing on Government Relations and health law matters as well as professional and contractual 

relations with optometrists and opticians affiliated with the company. He was also Chief Regulatory 

Counsel for Pearle Vision and previously as an attorney in private practice. Mr. Neville served as 

Chairman of the Pearle Vision Foundation while at Pearle and then as a member of the Foundation’s 

Board while at Luxottica. He has a J.D. and B.S. from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. His 

firm, JBN Consulting LLC, also provides consulting services to many of the top optical retailers in the 

U.S. and Canada.

Thomas B. Pahl was appointed Acting Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer 

Protection by Acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen on February 21, 2017. He oversees the 

Commission’s attorneys, investigators, and administrative personnel working to protect consumers 

from unfair and deceptive practices in the marketplace. Mr. Pahl first joined the agency in 1990, and 

spent more than two decades serving in various positions, including as Assistant Director in the 

Divisions of Financial Practices and Advertising Practices, and as an attorney advisor for former FTC 

Commissioners Orson Swindle and Mary Azcuenaga. Tom received his J.D., cum laude from 

Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, Illinois, and his B.A., summa cum laude, in 

economics from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Shaun Schooley has 25 years of senior management experience ranging from large companies to 

startups. Most recently, Shaun has been responsible for CooperVision’s global marketing technology 

initiatives including Cooper’s value add programs, tools and technology development, e-commerce, 

and the offerings under the services subsidiary EyeCare Prime. His team runs and operates direct-topatient lens services and marketing technologies for over 6,000 stores across the globe. Before joining 

CooperVision, Shaun held positions in e-commerce and payments technology with MyBuys (now 

Magnetic), Amazon.com, Charles Schwab, and Wells Fargo. He is a frequent industry speaker and holds 

nine patents in payments and lens ordering technologies.

Linda Sherry, Consumer Action’s director of national priorities and communications, joined the San 

Francisco-based national consumer education and advocacy group in 1994 from a background as a 

weekly newspaper reporter. A nationally recognized consumer advocate, Sherry is expert on credit and 

financial services pricing and practices and consumer rights. In 2004, she established Consumer 

Action’s Washington, D.C.-based advocacy team. Sherry is responsible for the organization’s national 

advocacy work, media relations and content for Consumer Action’s free, multilingual educational 

publications and websites. In 2018, her team has been working to preserve strong consumer 
The Contact Lens Rule

and the Evolving Contact Lens Marketplace

MARCH 7, 2018 | 8

protections and pro-consumer rules in a challenging and highly politicized anti-regulatory environment. 

The group’s recent educational publications have focused on data privacy, student loan repayment and 

basic investment skills, among other topics. Sherry writes the Hotline Chronicles column and other 

content for Consumer Action’s monthly INSIDER and SCAM GRAM newsletters.

Jennifer Sommer joined Walmart’s compliance division in 2008, and she has served as the Director of 

U.S. Ethics & Compliance for the Walmart and Sam’s Club optical divisions for the past eight years. In 

this role, Jennifer oversees the optical practice compliance program for all Walmart Vision Centers and 

Sam’s Club Opticals in 47 states and Puerto Rico, providing guidance and implementing controls 

around the practice of opticianry and relationships with independent doctors. Prior to her current 

position, Jennifer worked in the Walmart Product Safety & Compliance department, analyzing and 

influencing pending legislation and administrative rulemaking that would affect general merchandise 

products sold by Walmart and Sam’s Club brick-and-mortar and ecommerce businesses in the United 

States. At the beginning of her career, Jennifer worked in the Walmart Legal Department as part of the 

class action discovery group. Each spring, Jennifer co-teaches a course on Effective Compliance 

Programs at the University of Arkansas School of Law to second and third year students, and each fall 

and spring semester, Jennifer facilitates the U.S. Ethics & Compliance externship program with the law 

school. Jennifer is a 2006 graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law and has obtained 

certifications in corporate compliance and ethics and information privacy.

David N. Sonnenreich serves Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes as a Deputy Attorney General in a 

variety of roles. His primary responsibility is for the enforcement of antitrust laws, including merger 

reviews, and the enforcement of certain consumer protection laws, such as Utah’s data privacy and 

consumer credit freeze statutes. Mr. Sonnenreich has litigated numerous MDL, mass action, and 

multistate civil lawsuits and has extensive experience trying cases in both federal and state courts. A 

former white-collar crime prosecutor, he co-chairs the Utah Financial Fraud Institute and the Stop 

Fraud Utah campaign, and he created and oversees the nation’s first white-collar crime offender 

registry. Mr. Sonnenreich is an active member of the National Association of Attorneys General 

Antitrust Multistate Task Force. He is a frequent lecturer on topics related to antitrust law, 

competition, financial crimes, data breaches, and identity thefts, and is often called upon to testify 

before the Utah Legislature with respect to pending legislation in those fields. He developed an 

understanding of the contact lens market as a result of his involvement in passing 2015 General 

Session Senate Bill 169, which amended the Utah Contact Lens Consumer Protection Act. The 

amendment prohibits manufacturers and distributors from enforcing uniform pricing policies that set 

minimum retail prices for contact lens sales. He also helped to defend that law from legal challenges 

after passage. The views that Mr. Sonnenreich expresses are his own, do not constitute legal advice, 

and are not necessarily the views of the Office of the Attorney General.

Paul B. Spelman is a staff attorney with the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer 

Protection, Division of Advertising Practices. Since joining the FTC in 2010, Paul has worked on a variety 

of cases, including the Innovative Marketing “scareware” case, the Procera “memory pill” matter, and 

the current Roca Labs weight loss supplement and gag-clause case. Prior to joining the FTC, Paul was 

an associate in the D.C. law office of Vinson & Elkins, where he worked on antitrust and consumer 
The Contact Lens Rule

and the Evolving Contact Lens Marketplace

MARCH 7, 2018 | 9

protection matters, advised clients on privacy and communications law, and worked on commercial 

litigation and Supreme Court appeals, among other things. A former TV, newspaper, and radio news 

reporter, Paul is also the author of the book, Even Worse Than We Had Hoped, a memoir about life in 

local TV news. He graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law, summa cum laude, in 

2007, and received his B.A. from Colgate University in 1989.

Thomas L. (“Tim”) Steinemann, MD, is an ophthalmologist, corneal and external eye disease specialist 

and former director of the Eye Clinic at MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio. He is also a fulltime faculty member and Professor of Ophthalmology at the Case School of Medicine, Case Western 

Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio, 

and following a rotating internship, completed ophthalmology residency training at the University of 

Kentucky (Lexington, KY). He completed a fellowship in corneal transplantation, refractive surgery, and 

corneal research with Herb Kaufman, MD, Marguerite McDonald, MD and Roger Beuerman, PhD at the 

LSU Eye Center Lion’s Eye Research Laboratories, LSU School of Medicine (New Orleans, LA). Dr. 

Steinemann is widely published and has served as a principal investigator in a number of national 

clinical trials. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, where he also serves as a 

Media Spokesman and as consultant to the Committee on Research, Regulatory, and External Scientific 

Relations. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Contact Lens Association of 

Ophthalmologists (CLAO) and the Cleveland Sight Center. Dr. Steinemann has been appointed as a 

voting member of the Ophthalmic Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee, Center 

for Devices and Radiological Health, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He is a member of the Contact 

Lenses Workgroup for the CDC in Atlanta. He is recognized as one of Cleveland Magazine’s “Top 

Doctors” and is a recipient of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) Senior Achievement 

Award. The AAO provided support for his participation at the workshop.

Andrew Stivers is the Deputy Director for Consumer Protection in the Bureau of Economics at the 

Federal Trade Commission, where he oversees the provision of economic analysis and advice to the 

Commission on all consumer protection matters. Dr. Stivers joined the Commission in 2014 after 

serving as the Director of the consumer, public health and statistical analysis research division in the 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Food Center. Prior to joining FDA in 2008, Dr. Stivers was on the 

economics faculty at Oregon State University from 2001-2008. Dr. Stivers has a Ph.D. in Economics 

from the University of Texas at Austin and is an expert on the role, and regulation, of information in 

the marketplace.

Gary Swearingen is Corporate Counsel for Costco Wholesale. Costco is one of the largest retailers of 

eyeglasses and contact lenses in the U.S. and also has substantial international sales. Gary helps Costco 

Optical navigate federal and state regulations, works with the Costco buyers on both branded and 

private label purchase agreements, and negotiates with Costco’s optical technology providers. Gary 

has a J.D. from the University of Washington and a B.S. in economics and political science from 

Willamette University. 

Michelle Tarver, MD, PhD, is a medical officer at the Food and Drug Administration in the Center for 

Devices and Radiological Health. She attended Spelman College in Atlanta, GA where she received a 
The Contact Lens Rule

and the Evolving Contact Lens Marketplace

MARCH 7, 2018 | 10

B.S. in biochemistry. She completed the M.D./Ph.D. program at The Johns Hopkins University 

Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2002 earning her doctorate in clinical epidemiology. She 

completed her M.D. at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 2003. Following her internal medicine 

internship, she completed a residency in ophthalmology with fellowship training in ocular 

inflammation at the Wilmer Eye Institute (Johns Hopkins). She is board certified in ophthalmology and 

was previously an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins 

University School of Medicine in the Division of Ocular Immunology. She joined the Food and Drug 

Administration in 2009 where she works on ensuring that ophthalmic devices are safe and effective 

before entering the US marketplace as well as conducts research that incorporates the patient’s voice 

in the evaluation of medical devices.

Mitch Wessels is a 30-year retail veteran and has spent the past 18 years in optical retailing with 

Luxottica North America. As Senior Director of Contact Lenses, Mitch oversees the relationships with 

contact lens manufacturers and other industry partners and works with Luxottica’s retail brand 

leadership to develop contact lens strategy, positioning and processes. Luxottica operates optical retail 

locations under the brands LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Target Optical and Sears Optical as well as Ecommerce sites for LensCrafters, Target Optical, and Contacts Direct. Mitch also sits on the leadership 

team for the Luxottica Eye Care Center of Excellence.

Cynthia Williams is the General Counsel at 1-800 Contacts. Cindy joined 1-800 Contacts in July of 2015 

where she is responsible for managing the legal and legislative affairs teams. Cindy was named as one 

of Vision Monday’s 2016 Most Influential Women for her work as a consumer advocate in serving not 

only 1-800 Contacts customers, but also contact lens consumers everywhere. Cindy was featured in the 

spring edition of Vanguard, which tells the story of her work at 1-800 Contacts. Previously Cindy was 

Secretary & General Counsel for InterAct Public Safety Systems, a startup software company. Prior to 

that role, she was Corporate Counsel and Director of Government Affairs at Federal Signal Corporation. 

Cindy started her legal career at Lord, Bissell & Brook, n/k/a Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell in Chicago as a 

litigator.