Brent Rasmussen.
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CHICAGO—Opternative, the two-year-old Chicago company that pioneered online vision testing, has named Brent Rasmussen as CEO, effective Jan. 1. Rasmussen, who was also appointed to Opternative’s board of directors, takes over from co-founder Aaron Dallek, who stepped down as CEO a year ago. Rasmussen recently served as CEO at Halo Group and previously was COO and president, North America, at CareerBuilder. “The board of directors at Opternative decided to bring on Brent as CEO because of his wealth of experience in growth strategy, sales and operations at CareerBuilder, where his excellence in leadership culminated in becoming president of the company,” Opternative co-founder Steven Lee, OD, told VMAIL.

Lee, who also serves as Opternative’s chief science officer, added, “As an accomplished strategist and industry veteran, Rasmussen drove the innovation, expansion and ongoing revenue growth of CareerBuilder.com, the U.S.'s largest online job site at the time, and CareerBuilder Canada. Brent has proven to be a leader that is driven and passionate about evoking change for the better. Under his guidance, we will take Opternative to the next level of vision care that will help citizens around the world achieve better sight.”

In a statement issued by Opternative, Lee credited Pete Carroll, operating partner from Jump Capital, for “his invaluable leadership and guidance as interim CEO driving us forward throughout 2017."

Ocular telehealth is legal in 42 states. Opternative has provided online prescriptions in 39 states, and is seeking to expand its footprint in the U.S. The company’s technology powers the online vision test offered by 1-800 Contacts.

In October, 2017 Opternative sued Warby Parker, claiming the online retailer misappropriated trade secrets to develop its own online vision test. Warby Parker disputes the claim.