New Vice President of Research at Vision Council
The Vision Council has announced the appointment of Kris Stevens as the organization’s new vice president of research. In this role, Stevens will lead The Vision Council’s inSights Research Program, overseeing the delivery of timely, high-quality market intelligence through a comprehensive suite of reports, industry perspectives and custom research services, The Vision Council said. Stevens joined The Vision Council in 2022 and has been instrumental in modernizing the organization’s research infrastructure, The Vision Council said.
Over the past four years, he has engineered the new market model underlying the annual Market inSights report and forecast, as well as the quarterly market estimates. In addition, Stevens developed interactive data tools for members of The Vision Council, including a Tariff Dashboard that allows users to simulate tariff scenarios and model financial impacts with country-specific duty rates and product codes. He also developed a career exploration tool, which is hosted on The Vision Council Foundation website and details average salaries, education requirements and employment levels across a range of roles in the industry.
“Kris Stevens has made significant contributions to our research capabilities and helped build the infrastructure that has allowed the inSights Research Program to grow substantially over the past few years,” said Ashley Mills, CEO of The Vision Council. “In this expanded role, he will ensure our members continue to have access to leading industry data and insights, reinforcing The Vision Council’s position as the trusted data resource for the optical industry.”
Stevens will now lead The Vision Council’s data team, which includes Vlad Gupan, research manager, who oversees the twice-yearly Provider inSights survey of eyecare providers and special interest Focused inSights reports; Anastasiya Yanushkova, research partnerships director, who facilitates custom research projects and collaborations; and an additional data engineer, a position The Vision Council said it is actively recruiting to fill.
Before joining The Vision Council, Stevens worked as a data scientist at the Kentucky Center for Statistics. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Anderson University and a master’s degree in analytics from Bellarmine University.
