Alan Cleinman

Alan Cleinman is a serial entrepreneur and has been a leader in the eyecare industry for over thirty-five years. He began his career in 1972, at age 16, as a telephone sales representative for Brillen International Optical, a start-up eyewear importing and distribution firm. While at Brillen, he was a member of the management team and responsible for sales, marketing and distribution and was instrumental in the firm’s growth and its successful divestiture.

In 1979, at 23, Mr. Cleinman founded Co-Optics of America, Inc. Co-Optics was a "new concept" business services company that provided a variety of purchasing, marketing and management services to vision care retailers nationwide. Mr. Cleinman is considered the "father" of optical industry buying groups. While at Co-Optics, Mr. Cleinman launched the first eye care consumers’ magazine, Sight, with a circulation of one million consumers. In addition, he launched a division that became the third largest provider of vision care services to Health Maintenance Organizations nationwide. Mr. Cleinman sold the firm in 1985 to a group led by Chemical Venture Partners (now Chase Capital) and retired from the firm in 1989 to launch Cleinman Performance Partners.

Mr. Cleinman founded Cleinman Performance Partners, Inc. (CPP) in 1989. Today, CPP is North America’s largest general business consultancy specializing in the vision care industry. CPP provides services through five business units; Cleinman Performance Solutions (custom consulting); Cleinman Performance Network (wisdom sharing); Cleinman Performance University (education); Cleinman Performance Resources (publishing); and Cleinman Performance Connections (industry sponsorships). CPP counts as its clients the leaders of many of North America’s largest optometric practices.

In 1990, under the umbrella of CPP, Mr. Cleinman became a founder of Innotech, Inc., a development stage company with a unique spectacle lens manufacturing process. From 1990 to 1993, he acted as the firm’s first Chief Financial Officer and was instrumental in hiring its core executives; developing its strategic plan and raising the firm’s initial capital. Innotech went public in 1996 and was acquired by Johnson & Johnson for $135mm in March 1997, becoming Johnson & Johnson’s Spectacle Lens Group in 1999 and ultimately sold to Essilor in 2005.

Mr. Cleinman has been a member of several boards of directors in both commercial and not-for-profit settings. Mr. Cleinman's business activities have been the subject of many articles in the vision care trade press and such national publications as Venture Magazine, Advertising Age, U.S. News and World Report and DM News. He is the author of scores of published articles and is a frequent lecturer. He has been a contributing editor to Optometric Management and a contributing editor and member of the editorial advisory board of Eyecare Business magazine and is a prolific writer and speaker.

Mr. Cleinman resides in Oneonta, New York.