PIERCE SELECTED AS ALOA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The Alabama Optometric Association Board of Directors has selected Samuel D. Pierce, O.D. as the new ALOA Executive Director. Dr. Pierce will begin his new position in September and have a two month transition with the current Executive Director, Amanda Buttenshaw.

“Amanda has faithfully served as Executive Director of the Alabama Optometric Association for 26 years and has set a very high bar, with her reputation for excellence. And now I’m honored and thrilled to serve as the next Executive Director of the Alabama Optometric Association. Optometry has been my life and my passion for over forty years and now I will be representing Alabama Optometry at the state and federal levels, lobbying for the right to practice contemporary optometry as well as fighting patient access issues, vision plan and insurance company abuses,” said Dr. Pierce.

“I am thrilled with the selection of Dr. Pierce. He is uniquely qualified to lead the ALOA and I know that I am leaving the association in excellent hands,” said Amanda Buttenshaw. “I have full confidence in his ability to guide the association into its next chapter.”

Dr. Pierce served as the 97th president of the AOA from 2018-2019 where he created the AOA’s Future Practice Initiative, which has already led to scope expansion in several states. Dr. Pierce served on the AOA’s Board of Trustees from 2009–2020 and is currently the Chair of AOA Excel. He also is past president of the Alabama Optometric Association and served as a member of the Southeastern Congress of Optometry Board of Trustees. Dr. Pierce is a graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry and in 2012 he received the Alabama Optometric Association’s Optometrist of the Year award.