OAM Presidents
1939 - 1961 Arthur Kelley
Arthur Kelley, along with prominent Boston opticians founded the Massachusetts Association of Retail Dispensing Opticians (MARDO). MARDO originally consisted of five chapters throughout the state. Mr. Kelley served as our first President and is revered as the "Father of Massachusetts Opticianry".
1961 - 1965 John Boyd
John Boyd, a prominent optician from the Worcester chapter served as MARDO President after Arthur Kelley served as President for 22 years.
1965 - 1969 Kenneth Collinson
Kenneth Collinson was a successful Boston optician who specialized in contact lens fitting and dispensing.
1969 - 1971 Paul Alony
Paul Alony, Chair of the Worcester chapter for many years, became the first MARDO President to serve in accordance with the new by-laws which stipulated a maximum of two consecutive one-year term limit for all executive officers.
1971 - 1973 Robert Evans
Along with Paul Alony and Irving Smith, Robert Evans initiated efforts to create an educational curriculum for the first school for opticianry in Massachusetts.
In a landmark decision, Kenneth Collinson was awarded a court decision allowing opticians to fit and dispense contact lenses.
1973 - 1975 Irving Smith
The first MA opticianry formal degree program was established and offered by Worcester Industrial Technical Institute. Charles "Chuck" Walsh was named program director.
1975 - 1977 Elmer Francoeur
Elmer was the First President from the Springfield chapter and established the first all New England conference. He also established strong relations with the Opticians Association of America (OAA) through the Guild.
1977 - 1979 Patrick Russo
Patrick was the first President to preside over a chapter-less and fully unified MARDO organization. The unification effort included changing the name to the Massachusetts Association of Registered (instead of Retail) Dispensing Opticians.
The American Board of Opticianry (ABO) competency exam was adopted as the Massachusetts written exam, and the state practical exam was abolished.
The New England Contact Lens Society was established and held its first education conference in Sturbridge, MA.
1979 - 1981 Robert Vanderhoof
Robert was a very influential President and would later serve as the Chair to the Board of Registration.
1981 - 1983 Rizzieri “Ritzi” Camelloni
Ritzi was one of the founding faculty members for the opticianry program in Worcester.
1983 - 1985 Patrick Langone
Patrick was an influential state and national leader. After completing his term as MARDO President, Patrick would serve as the President of the OAA.
1985 - 1987 Michael Vanderhoof
Michael was active in the Springfield area and supported the transformation of the former Springfield chapter into the Independent Retail Opticians of Springfield (IROS).
1987 - 1990 L. Thomas Graves Jr.
In partnership with MARDO, the OAA held their national education conference in Boston at the Sheraton Hotel.
Tom would also serve as a national leader and as the Chair for the ABO/NCLE.
Carol Russell is named as the first Executive Director of MARDO.
1990 - 1992 Gary Lawton
Governor William Weld's "Elimination of Unnecessary Regulation" Act, which included opticianry, was voted down by the Ways & Means committee, due in part, to public testimony presented by directors from MARDO and the OAA.
1992 - 1994 William Cousins
Many MARDO members enrolled in the OAA 100 Hour Refraction education program and formed the Refracting Opticians of Massachusetts (ROM) organization.
1994 - 1995 Laurie Pierce
Laurie served as President for one year before joining the faculty for the opticianry program at Hillsboro Community College in Florida. Laurie is recognized as a distinguished NFOS teacher and nationally recognized lecturer.
1995 - 1998 Blair Wong
MARDO formed its first ever formal corporate partnership program.
MARDO was very involved during this period of time in transitioning the OAA national continuing education conference to a national conference solely for the purpose of leadership development.
1998 - 2000 Dan Sullivan
In order to place the emphasis upon the profession rather than the state, and also to be more in alignment as an affiliate member of the OAA, MARDO was renamed as the Opticians Association of Massachusetts (OAM).
Carol Russell retired as OAM Executive Director and was replaced on an interim basis by Blair Wong.
2000 - 2002 Ed Healy
OAM held its first ever golf tourney in order to raise scholarships for opticianry students in Massachusetts.
MA BOR added NCLE certification as a requirement for licensing as well as a state practical exam based upon prescription verification using a vertometer.
2002 - 2004 Norman Marquis
The OAM joined the Internet Age and created its first ever website, www.opticiansma.org.
2004 - 2006 George Bourque, Sr.
George established a curriculum development subcommittee in order to establish a formal education program in the Boston area.
2006 - 2008 Denise Cook
OAM became the only state association in the country to directly partner in the creation of an opticianry degree program. The partnership was with the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology in
Boston. Blair Wong was named program director.
For the first time, the OAM 2008 Fall conference is hosted at the Southbridge Hotel & Conference center.
2008 - 2010 Thomas Merrill
Tom established a strong line of communication with all regulatory agencies and organization including the MA Board of Registration (BOR) and the Division of Apprentice Standards (DAS).
The current OAM Mission Statement was re-written and adopted by the Board of Directors.
2010 - 2012 Kristin Morrissey
Focusing upon public awareness of the profession of opticianry, the OAM launched the "Opticians helping America See" billboard campaign.
2012 - 2014 Dibby Bartlett
Dibby helped to create the Smart Choice promotion campaign and raise public awareness for the profession.
Dibby assisted in the creation of the first ever "Students to Leadership" program for the OAA and students and apprentices across the US.
After her term as OAM President, Dibby served on the OAA Board of Directors, and served as OAA President from 2020 - 2022.
2014 - 2016 Michael Tanzi
The OAM supported the production of a PBS documentary on eye health and related professions. The PBS documentary, Sight The Story of Vision, was released in 2017 and became the most widely viewed documentary in PBS history.
2016 - 2018 George Bourque, Jr.
The OAM offered continuing educational courses focusing upon mission opportunities for opticians.
Through national and local grants, the OAM sent it largest contingent ever to the OAA Leadership conference in Orlando.
2018 - 2020 Katherine Plante
Kathryn was the first BFIT graduate, and graduate of the OAA Student To Leadership program to be elected as President of their state association.
2020 - 2022 Kevin Silva
During the pandemic, the OAM partnered with other New England State Associations in order to conduct the first ever all New England (ONE) virtual conference.
The MA BOR adopted the ABO Practical as their state licensing exam.
2022 - 2024 Lisa Bourque
The MA BOR is relocated, along with Optometry, from the Division of Professional Licensing, to the Department of Public Health.
2024 - 2026 Cassandra Hains
2026 - 2028 Zoe Clayton