New Executive Director appointed at Brien Holden Vision Institute

Brien Holden Vision Institute is embarking on a new strategic roadmap for their organization. They have announced Tim Fricke as acting Executive Director of their social enterprise delivering improved eye care to those most in need in Australia and across the world. Tim will manage the team while Executive Director Leigh Cleave fulfils her lifelong dream of exploring new countries for the next year.

Uniquely qualified for the complex role, Tim Fricke, is a senior research fellow with BHVI. He is an optometrist, researcher & international development practitioner and has held management and leadership roles in private, public and community health. He brings extensive pediatrics clinical experience and post-graduate research in pediatrics eye care & health economics, along with his international research into the development of local systems & skills for eyecare in developing countries.

“Vision impairment is a major contributor to global poverty. There are more than 1.22 billion people who are blind, or vision impaired simply because they do not have access to eye examinations and glasses – things most Australian’s take for granted,” says BHVI CEO, Yvette Waddell. “We believe this is a crisis which requires an urgent and massive response. At BHVI, we are committed to researching and implementing solutions to meet this crisis head on and reverse the trend towards blindness.”

“I am a passionate advocate for sight being a fundamental right for everyone, regardless of where they live and BHVI is the world leader in ensuring this vision becomes a reality. It is an exciting time to be taking BHVI to the world,” says Tim Fricke.

With a goal to eliminate vision impairment and avoidable blindness, BHVI is a social enterprise with a clear mandate and an experienced and committed team working to improve the quality of life for people all around the world. For more than 30 years, we have focused on creating superior modes of vision correction for the most common eye conditions – refractive errors. These conditions impair the vision of billions of people worldwide.