CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21, 2025--
Europa, a leading designer and manufacturer of premium independent eyewear, proudly announces the appointment of Megan Molony as its new chief executive officer, effective June 16. Molony will oversee the full Europa platform, including Europa Eyewear and eyebobs, as well as future acquisitions, while working closely with the board of directors to set and execute the company’s long-term strategic vision. Molony will be supported in day-to-day operations by Scott Shapiro, Europa’s former CEO, who will transition to executive director of industry relations, and Jerry Wolowicz, Europa’s president.
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This transition marks a significant milestone for Europa, which has grown from a family-run business into a respected platform of eyewear brands. Founded by Alan and Cynthia Shapiro in 1977 and led by Scott Shapiro since 2010, Europa has become a market-leading independent eyewear company. Europa has launched innovative brands like STATE Optical and established a state-of-the-art eyewear manufacturing facility in Chicago, IL, where it also produces the company’s American Optical brand of sunglasses and ophthalmic frames. In 2023, Europa partnered with Blue Point Capital Partners with the vision of building a more dynamic portfolio of independent eyewear brands —beginning with the acquisition of eyebobs shortly thereafter.
“Megan is a dynamic and thoughtful leader whose depth of experience, industry relationships, and strategic mindset will drive meaningful progress for Europa,” said Scott Shapiro. “I’m excited to support Megan and together write the next chapter of Europa. The future of Europa is extremely bright.”
Molony brings nearly 30 years of optical industry experience to Europa, with a strong track record in merchandising, customer experience, managed care, operations, and innovation. Most recently, she served as chief merchandising and managed vision care officer at National Vision, Inc., and has held key leadership roles at Essilor of America and Luxottica North America, gaining deep expertise across both retail and wholesale environments.
“I’m honored to join Europa at such a pivotal time,” said Megan Molony. “This is a company with a strong and very successful legacy, meaningful values, and a deep commitment to its customers and employees. I’m excited to partner with this exceptional team and build on that foundation to shape the next phase of growth for Europa’s brands, partners, and people.”
Molony’s appointment reflects the company’s focus on scaling its reach and impact while staying true to its core.
“Megan brings a rare combination of strategic vision, operational rigor, and authentic leadership,” said Holly Rush, executive chair of Europa’s board of directors. “Her experience in delivering results, building strong teams, and leading through complexity makes her the ideal person to steward the next chapter of our growth, and we are all incredibly proud to have her on board.”
Europa Eyewear
Europa is one of the largest independent designers and manufacturers of eyewear in the United States, offering a diverse portfolio of 11 independent brands, including American Optical and STATE, which are manufactured in the company’s Chicago factory. With a national sales team of dedicated professionals, the company consistently ranks as a preferred partner to eyecare professionals and is known for exceptional service. In 2023, Europa partnered with Blue Point Capital Partners, entering a new stage of growth, and subsequently acquired eyebobs, the Minneapolis-based premium reading glass brand, to begin building out its platform of premium eyewear brands.
Newly Appointed Europa Eyewear Chief Executive Officer Megan Molony
SAN FRANCISCO & JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--
Abridge, the leading enterprise-grade AI for clinical conversations, is collaborating with Availity, the nation’s largest real-time health information network, to launch a first-of-its kind prior authorization experience. The engagement uses cutting-edge technology grounded in the clinician-patient conversation to facilitate a more efficient process between clinicians and health plans in medical necessity review.
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Rather than creating parallel AI systems across healthcare stakeholders, Abridge and Availity are working together to ensure shared clinical context at the point of conversation powers administrative processes, such as prior authorization review and submission, improving outcomes for patients and the teams delivering care.
This collaboration unites two trusted and scaled organizations: combining Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform, serving over 200 health systems and projected to support over 80 million patient-clinician conversations in 2026, with Availity’s next-generation, FHIR-native Intelligent Utilization Management solution, which helps payers and providers digitize and operationalize coverage requirements within administrative workflows.
Availity’s FHIR-native APIs enable fast, scalable, and secure connectivity of payer information across the entire healthcare ecosystem. With Abridge’s Contextual Reasoning Engine technology, clinicians can gain visibility into relevant clinical information during the conversation to support documentation aligned with prior authorization requirements.
“At Availity, we’ve invested in building AI-powered, FHIR-native APIs designed to bring clinical policy logic directly into provider workflows,” said Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity. “By embedding our technology at the point of conversation, we’re enabling faster, more transparent utilization management decisions rooted in clinical context. We’re excited to collaborate with Abridge and to demonstrate what’s possible when payer intelligence meets real-time provider workflows.”
The development of real-time prior authorization is just a component of a broader revenue cycle collaboration that is focused on applying real-time conversational intelligence across the patient, provider, and payer experiences. The companies intend to support integration by collaborating on workflow alignment between their respective platforms in the following areas:
“Abridge and Availity are each bringing national scale, deep trust, and a track record of solving important challenges across the care and claims experience to this partnership,” said Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge. “We’re building real-time bridges between patients, providers, and payers, unlocking shared understanding, focused at the point of conversation.”
About Availity
Availity empowers payers and providers to deliver transformative patient experiences by enabling the seamless exchange of clinical, administrative, and financial information. As the nation's largest real-time health information network, Availity develops intelligent, automated, and interoperable solutions that foster collaboration and shared value across the healthcare ecosystem. With connections to over 95% of payers, more than 3 million providers, and over 2,000 trading partners, Availity provides mission-critical connectivity to drive the future of healthcare innovation. For more information, including an online demonstration, please visit www.availity.com or call 1.800.AVAILITY (282.4548). Follow us on LinkedIn.
About Abridge
Abridge was founded in 2018 to power deeper understanding in healthcare. Abridge is now trusted by more than 200 of the largest and most complex health systems in the U.S. The enterprise-grade AI platform transforms medical conversations into clinically useful and billable documentation at the point of care, reducing administrative burden and clinician burnout while improving patient experience. With deep EHR integration, support for 28+ languages, and 50+ specialties, Abridge is used across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient.
Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform is purpose-built for healthcare. Supported by Linked Evidence, Abridge is the only solution that maps AI-generated summaries to source data, helping clinicians quickly trust and verify the output. As a pioneer in generative AI for healthcare, Abridge is setting the industry standard for the responsible deployment of AI across health systems.
Abridge was awarded Best in KLAS 2025 for Ambient AI in addition to other accolades, including Forbes 2025 AI 50 List, TIME Best Inventions of 2024, and Fortune’s 2024 AI 50 Innovators.
Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation
Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation
