Angel Alvarez

Alvarez began his career in the optometry industry 30 years ago as a senior sales representative for CibaVision. With the advent of disposable contact lenses in the mid-1980s, he realized that as small business owners, optometrists would not be able to keep up with consumer demand, delivery and logistics. Alvarez saw the paradigm shift and knew he could help them increase efficiency, drive costs down and ultimately grow profitability. So in 1989, Alvarez purchased Co-Optics Distribution and formed Alvaco Trading Company, which became ABB Optical a year later. Under Alvarez’s leadership, the company experienced rapid growth and expansion in the 1990s and 2000s, acquiring several regional contact lens companies, most notably CON-CISE Contact Lens Company in California, establishing ABB CONCISE as the largest contact lens distributor at the time. In 2012, private equity