Essilor Creates New Executive Committee Position: Chief Corporate Mission Officer

Essilor creates new executive committee position - Chief Corporate Mission Officer - to deploy Essilor’s mission of providing better vision to all.

Jayanth Bhuvaraghan is appointed as Chief Corporate Mission Officer

Charenton le Pont, – Essilor International announced today the creation of a Chief Corporate Mission Officer position within the Executive Committee of the company.
The newly created position, reporting to the Chairman & CEO, is in charge of coordinating, supporting and fostering all initiatives that contribute to achieving Essilor’s corporate mission of improving vision for the greatest number of people worldwide.

Since its creation 165 years ago, Essilor has been focused on providing solutions to people in need of vision correction: Today, 4.2 Bn people in the world need to have their vision corrected and this figure is estimated to reach 6 Bn by 2030, representing a major social and economic issue. The creation of this new position shows the Group’s ambition to develop a global Corporate Social Responsibility approach directly related to the company’s long-term strategy.

Many initiatives to improve awareness and access to vision correction have already been launched by Essilor teams to fight poor vision, one of the most widespread disabilities in the world. These include mobile refraction vans in India, vision examination for children in the USA thanks to the Essilor Vision Foundation, and vision screenings in major Chinese towns. The Group has partnered with the Special Olympics organization for years and is a founder member of the Optique Solidaire association in France. More recently, Essilor has supported the creation of the Vision Impact Institute.

The Chief Corporate Mission Officer position will coordinate and accelerate such initiatives, help create awareness by working closely with various global organisations that are already acting in this area and create new inclusive business models to address the needs of all hence bridging the gap of uncorrected visual impairment.

Mr. Jayanth Bhuvaraghan, President of South-East Asia & India, is entrusted with the new position as of April 1st. He is a seasoned executive in Essilor with diverse experience in various markets like India, Asean, Middle East and Africa. He is also credited with developing various innovative and successful social business models like providing access to vision correction for remote populations. He brings his passion, skills and experience to this new role that will accelerate the deployment of Essilor’s mission around the world.

In announcing the creation of this new position, Hubert Sagnières, Chairman and CEO of the Essilor Group declared: “Working in an area of primary importance for two-thirds of the world population who need vision correction, Essilor has a strong social responsibility. The creation of this Chief Corporate Mission Officer position, directly reporting to me, demonstrates our determination to position our mission at the centre of our activities”.

Jayanth Bhuvaraghan, taking up the challenge, added: "I am greatly excited to take on this new position. Providing better vision to everyone who needs it, is Essilor’s central driving force. I will endeavour to help bring about improved answers to unmet needs throughout the world.”

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About Essilor The world’s leading ophthalmic optics company, Essilor designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of lenses to improve and protect eyesight. Its corporate mission is to enable everyone around the world to access lenses that meet his or her unique vision requirements. To support this mission, the Company allocates around €150 million to research and development every year, in a commitment to continuously bring new, more effective products to market. Essilor’s flagship brands are Varilux®, Crizal®, Definity®, Xperio®, OptifogTM and Foster Grant®. It also develops and markets equipment, instruments and services for eyecare professionals. Essilor reported consolidated revenue of approximately €5 billion in 2012 and employs around 50,700 people in some 100 countries. It operates 22 plants, more than 400 prescription laboratories and edging facilities, as well as several research and development centers around the world. For more information, please visit www.essilor.com. The Essilor share trades on the NYSE Euronext Paris market and is included in the EuroStoxx 50 and CAC 40 indices. Codes and symbols: ISIN: FR FR0000121667; Reuters: ESSI.PA; Bloomberg: EI:FP.