The customer promise
The company provides vision assessment, optical dispensing and related products through physical and digital channels. The customer relies on the enterprise to distinguish clinical need, product recommendation, measurement, fitting and retail choice. Errors can cause poor vision, discomfort, falls, unsafe driving or delayed referral of an underlying condition; commercial incentives can also encourage unnecessary upgrades or inadequate disclosure.
The Board is preparing the business for public-market scrutiny. It seeks an Independent Director who can protect clinical boundaries and consumer trust while challenging product margin, store economics, inventory, warranties, returns, digital claims and growth capital. The appointee must understand that a completed sale is not a successful outcome if the prescription, measurement, product, fitting or after-care is wrong.
Ten dimensions of the mandate
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Clinical scope and referral. Define which assessments the company performs, the competence required, warning signs requiring referral and the information communicated to the customer. Commercial employees may not suppress or reinterpret clinical escalation.
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Prescription and identity integrity. Protect customer identification, prescription entry, validity, changes, transfer from external professionals, pupillary or fitting measurements and order verification. Manual corrections require attribution and review.
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Product and lens specification. Govern material, coating, power, design, frame compatibility, tolerances, safety, traceability and substitution. The manufactured and delivered item must reconcile to the approved order.
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Professional competence. Review qualification, authorisation, supervision, continuing training, equipment use and workload for clinicians, optometrists, technicians and dispensing staff. Attendance at training is not proof of competence.
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Responsible selling. Examine scripts, targets, bundles, upgrades, discounts, financing, warranties and health or performance claims. Incentives should not reward conversion at the expense of need, suitability or clear consent.
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Fitting, delivery and after-care. Set standards for inspection, adjustment, adaptation advice, repeat assessment, remake, complaint, refund and referral. Repeated remakes should be investigated as quality evidence, not hidden as routine service.
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Omnichannel continuity. Ensure digital recommendations, uploaded prescriptions, virtual tools, store fulfilment, customer records, pricing, cancellations and returns operate under one consumer-protection standard.
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Inventory and margin truth. Review frames, lenses, accessories, consignment, samples, returns, damaged stock, obsolete styles and supplier rebates. Category contribution should include remakes, warranties, channel fees and working capital.
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Store and laboratory economics. Separate mature and ramping locations; account for professional staffing, equipment, occupancy, marketing, fulfilment, central support, remakes and customer acquisition. Growth should not depend on chronically understaffed clinical service.
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IPO metric assurance. Standardise active customers, transactions, repeat use, store maturity, digital-to-store conversion, return and remake, customer acquisition, product margin and clinical-quality measures with auditable definitions.
Consumer and clinical non-negotiables
Suspected clinical harm, deliberate prescription alteration, material substitution, falsified professional credentials, misleading health claims and systematic denial of valid remakes or refunds must reach independent Board oversight. Customer complaints should be classified by potential harm rather than financial value.
The company should maintain clear separation between professional assessment and sales management. Where advice contains both clinical and retail elements, the customer must understand the difference, the alternatives and the total price before committing.
Capital and growth decisions
The Director will challenge store expansion, laboratories, acquisitions, private-label products, new clinical services, consumer finance, digital diagnostic tools, supplier exclusivity and the timing of the IPO. Each proposal should show competence, claims evidence, product quality, store or cohort economics, inventory, customer remediation and downside closure cost.
The Board pack should include referral and clinical exceptions; prescription corrections; remake and return cohorts; product failures; complaints; credentialing; supplier deviations; store contribution; inventory ageing; rebates; refunds; digital incidents; capex performance; audit findings; and IPO readiness.
Candidate profile
Candidates should bring at least 22 years of leadership experience across healthcare, optical products, consumer retail, medical devices, clinical governance, product quality, digital commerce, audit, finance or listed-company boards. Direct vision-care experience is valuable but not essential if the candidate has governed clinical services and safety-relevant consumer products.
Suitable candidates may include former healthcare or retail CEOs, COOs, CFOs, clinical quality leaders, consumer-risk executives, omnichannel leaders or Audit Committee Chairs. The candidate must be willing to inspect customer journeys, laboratories and store operations.
Eligibility and conflicts
Active inclusion in the IICA Independent Directors Databank is mandatory. The appointee must be able to satisfy listed-company independence requirements before the formal offer process. Relationships involving promoter entities, healthcare professionals, optical manufacturers, laboratories, retailers, marketplaces, lenders, investors, auditors or transaction advisers must be disclosed.
The role may not be used to generate referrals, product placement, retail, laboratory, finance or consulting business for connected parties.
First-year result
The Director will begin by tracing representative prescriptions and complaints, reviewing clinical boundaries and credentials, inspecting fulfilment, testing store and channel economics and challenging IPO metrics. Within one year, the company should demonstrate safer clinical escalation, reliable product identity, fairer selling, lower avoidable remakes, realistic store economics and public claims supported by evidence.