Leadership

Board of Trustees

Medical Advisory Committee

Management Team

Georgia Eye Bank’s dedicated staff runs the daily operation and administration of the Eye Bank, recovering, processing, and distributing eye donations, as well as educating the public and healthcare professionals. Our staff includes highly trained professionals with extensive experience.

Bruce H. Varnum

Chair, President & CEO

Bruce has been Chair, President & CEO of Georgia Eye Bank, Inc. since 1998. He also served as Chair of Georgia Eye Bank’s Executive Advisory Board from 1987 to 1997. Prior to his tenure at Georgia Eye Bank, Bruce served in senior management positions in banking and certified public accounting for 28 years before retiring in 1996.

Bruce is the Immediate Past chair of the Board of Directors for the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA) and has served in various capacities on the Board since 2001. Bruce has also served on various EBAA committees, including 10 years on the Executive Committee, terms as Chair of the Audit and the Constitution & Bylaws Committee and membership on the Finance Committee.

Bruce obtained both his BA in Accounting and his MS in Business Economics from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. He is a certified public accountant.

Eric Meinecke

Chief Operating Officer

Following graduation from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2000, Eric began his eye banking career at Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank (RMLEB) in Colorado. He served in various positions of increasing responsibility through April 2005. He then served as the Technical Director for the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin for three years before returning to Colorado in 2008 where he was RMLEB’s Technical Director. Eric joined the Georgia Eye Bank team in April 2011.

Eric has been a Certified Eye Bank Technician (CEBT) since 2003 and has served in various leadership roles for the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA). He currently serves on EBAA’s Medical Advisory Board and is Co-Vice Chair of the Accreditation Board. Eric is also a current member and immediate past Chair of the Technician Education Committee and has been a faculty member for EBAA’s Technician Education Seminar.

David Thompson

Chief Financial & Administrative Officer

David has been Manager of Finance & Administration of Georgia Eye Bank, Inc. since 2003 and in April 2011 became Chief Financial & Administrative Officer. Prior to joining Georgia Eye Bank, and over 29 years, David has held various financial and business development positions in the technical industry. David also has participated in fund raising activities for other non-profit organizations.

David obtained his BS degree in Business Administration from the University of South Florida.

Volunteers

It takes many volunteers to make eye donation happen. The following list provides an idea of just how extensive our volunteer system has to be in order to give the Gift of Sight.