Hilco Vision, a leading provider of eyecare and eyewear solutions, announces the retirement of Bob Nahmias, the CEO of the business for the past 17 years, per his intent shared with owners Blue Point Capital prior to their investment in the company in May 2014. During his tenure, and as a result of his leadership, Hilco made 14 acquisitions, grew revenues by nearly 500%, and has become an industry leader in many sectors of the optical industry. “We are very grateful to Bob whose extraordinary contributions over the years have made Hilco the success it is today,” shared John LeMay, Partner at Blue Point Capital. Nahmias will remain involved at Hilco and serve as Senior Advisor - Corporate Development with an ongoing focus on acquisitions, which remain a key building block of the Hilco strategy going forward. According to Nahmias, “In 1997, I was fortunate to join a great company that Art Hilsinger built. Our success has been driven by a fantastic, dedicated, and stable team and a growing list of valued customers, who we cherish immensely. The fact that we have been able to attract a new CEO of Ross Brownlee’s caliber is a testament to how far we’ve come as a business.”

Ross Brownlee (at right) was appointed CEO on June 15th. In addition to his role as CEO he will also be a member of the Board of Directors. Brownlee has a wealth of wholesale and retail experience in the optical industry having spent 18 years in Safilo; the last six of which were as President and COO for the Americas and President of its retail arm Solstice LLC with responsibility for sales, product planning and development, licensing and marketing, operations and finance. From 1996 to 2009 he was based in Hong Kong – finally serving as Managing Director, building Safilo’s position throughout the Far East including 7 regional subsidiaries and the Group’s Global Travel Retail channel. A British national who holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago and HKUST in Hong Kong, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Durham in England, Brownlee commented: “I am excited to join Hilco Vision at this moment in its history. This is an excellent company that with the support and investment of Blue Point Capital has the potential to really seize new opportunities and increase its relevance to customers globally.”

John LeMay, Partner at Blue Point added:  “we are very excited to welcome Ross to the Hilco team, we believe Ross’s extensive industry background, strong commercial track record and unique international experience are an ideal fit as we look to build on Hilco’s strong market position.”