HER Insight: Jennifer Lambert, CooperVision

Erinn Morgan: Hello everyone. This is Erinn Morgan with Insight Media and I am here today for our next episode of our Her Insight podcast: Women in VisionCare Leadership. And I am honored to be here today with Jennifer Lambert. She is the VP, Myopia Management and Cornea Care at Coopervision. Welcome, Jennifer. Thank you for joining us today.

Jennifer Lambert: Thank you for having me, glad to be here.

EM: Yeah, it’s wonderful to have you here and we’d love to kick things off by learning just a little bit about your role with Coopervision. What does that entail?

JL: Sure. So as the VP of myopia management and cornea care, I look after our portfolio of myopia management and specialty lens products, including on the contact lens side, MiSight 1 day, which is sold in more than 40 countries and is still the first and only US FDA approved, China NMPA approved, and now approved by the Japan Ministry of Health for myopia control. So we’re very excited about that.

Our Ortho-K portfolio of lenses, including DreamLite and CRT, as well as our specialty lenses, including various sclerals and hybrids and RGB lenses for people with irregular cornea or corneal conditions. And then also I look after our joint venture partnership with Essilor, where we have Sightglass Vision, which is a spectacle lens technology to address myopia control.

So I look after strategy, commercial execution, innovation, marketing, the whole nine yards for the global teams.

EM: It sounds like you must be very busy. A lot of products.

JL: It’s a lot of calls during a lot of different time zones, but it’s great work.

EM: Yes. It is fantastic work and what an exciting time to be in myopia management right now, really kind of a sea change happening there in the US well.

I’ll just head into our quick questions for you. What excites you most about your role and today’s opportunities in myopia management? Because it sure seems like there’s a lot of opportunity today.

JL: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that this role is so unique and exciting because a really rare opportunity to align a business and strategy challenge with something that is truly going to make a difference for so many children around the world. Having the opportunity to help build a category and help drive a standard of care for the future of vision and eye health for children is just really exciting.

We’re not just selling contact lenses and products. We are helping change the trajectory of their lives. And so it’s work that people in the industry and people on my team feel a tremendous amount of investment and passion. Seeing professional bodies come along and endorsing myopia management as the standard of care, awareness and adoption accelerate globally, it’s just a really exciting time in the industry and for the profession as a whole.

EM: Wonderful. Well, thank you for that. As a leader, and it seems that you’ve been in this industry for quite some time and have been kind of a leader in our industry for quite some time, can you please tell us a little bit about your own personal leadership philosophy?

JL: Sure. I believe that it’s really important to lead with empathy and empowerment and collaboration. So, you know, my philosophy is trying to empower my teams so that they can do their best work. And so I believe starting with clarity, trying to set a clear vision and clear objectives, but empowering my teams to interpret it and find the best path to get there is really important.

I think curiosity is another principle that I adhere to. I think it’s always important to question the way things have been done in the past, look for new opportunities, and also display curiosity for the people who are selling or using your products, as well as the end patients and what are their challenges and concerns.

And then, finally, connection. Being able to help foster alignment between different teams around the shared purpose that we all have for myopia management. So, you know, if I do my job right, I’m not dictating the answers. I’m helping the teams ask the questions and find the path to unlock their best work and their best thinking.

EM: Wonderful. That sounds like a fantastic focus and your teams are lucky to have a leader with that kind of focus for sure. The flip side, what do you find most challenging as a leader today?

JL: Well, you know, there’s so much change that balancing and complexity in the face of so many changes, both within the category, the environments in different countries, and the world as a whole, you know, is a challenge, I think, for everyone right now. So, figuring out how to lead through ambiguity. Again, trying to provide that clarity in the moment we are now, but allowing space and opportunity for course correction if we need to when conditions change or regulatory environments change and helping the team stay grounded when the work feels really high stakes. So doing that while we’re balancing the short-term commercial pressures that we have with keeping an eye always on building the category and the opportunities for the long-term, staying centered as all of that is a challenge.

EM: Definitely, for sure. A really interesting time for myopia management. Where do you believe this area of our industry is heading in the future? What are some of the biggest opportunities right now?

JL: Yeah, I think the future is so bright. I think we have come a long way in terms of building belief. We have not necessarily translated that into universal or consistent action. So I think, you know, as we see continued drive to adopt it as standard of care, I’m really excited for an opportunity where every child is offered some sort of myopia management treatment.

What is changing and what is going to really drive the future is things like technology and artificial intelligence and machine learning, which is going to be able to synthesize real world data results and really help figure out and pinpoint what treatment is going to be the right one for the right child at the right time in their life. So, you know, having that opportunity to better understand that then using that to continue to integrate and align the profession, not just optometrists and ophthalmologists, but pediatricians, as well as continued advances in optical designs and different products.

So, you know, the biggest opportunity overall is going to be bringing all these things together to continue to drive access to myopia management and again make sure that every child has the opportunity for some sort of treatment.

EM: Yes, it’s wonderful. An exciting future ahead, no doubt, in myopia management.

So my last question for you, or just request, is could you please share, in the framework of our HER Insight podcast theme, could you please share kind of one of your own favorite or best tips or strategies for aspiring female leaders?

JL: Sure, I think being yourself and leading and leaning into your unique strengths as a leader is really important. Being assertive and asking for opportunities. Don’t wait until you feel 100% ready. Ask for those opportunities, use your voice, speak up in the meetings.

And I would say my one tip is that it’s really important to build those allies and networks within your company, within the industry but not just in mentor roles, in sponsorship roles. So finding the people within the company who are in the rooms when hiring decisions are made, when promotion decisions are made, and cultivating relationships with them through projects or other things that you’re able to demonstrate your capabilities. So you’re building that professional credibility as you’re going along.

EM: Definitely. Wow. Great strategy. Great tip. Thank you for that very much, Jennifer. Well, we really appreciate you coming on to our podcast today and thank you for your time and wishing you all the best in this exciting time ahead for myopia management and beyond.

JL: Thank you, Erinn. Thank you for having me.

EM: Yes, thank you. And thank you all for joining us. And we will see you again soon for another episode of the HER Insight podcast from Insight Media.