“We’re really excited about leveraging all the strengths that we can from all the businesses and bringing them into one location,” McGrann told Cooper. Integration, McGrann emphasized, is about capturing strengths and minimizing weaknesses, adding that “the whole is stronger than the parts.”

That initiative also coincides with a broader growth plan. Since Cornell Capital’s acquisition of the business in mid-2022, McGrann told VMAIL that one of the “key pillars of the strategy was to take what we’ve done in North America and then begin to expand into Europe and Asia Pacific.”

AEC’s purchase of Birmingham Optical Group in the U.K. marked the company’s first step toward that strategy, and McGrann said the team there has integrated well and performed strongly. He also pointed to AEC leadership, including Quinn Lyzun, who was appointed president in January of this year, as key members of the team who “have helped strengthen our sales organization and our operations.”

The company also recently announced a new distribution relationship, including an exclusive agreement between Marco Lombart and Haag-Streit USA for the Haag-Streit Lenstar 900 optical biometer and the Octopus 600 and Octopus 900 perimeters.

Technology, McGrann said, will be the defining force for practices over the next decade. He urged practice owners to view digital tools and AI not as optional upgrades but as strategic necessities that improve patient experience and streamline workflows.

“I don’t believe AI is going to replace our doctors,” he said, “but I do believe that doctors with AI will replace doctors that don’t leverage it.” For AEC, that means positioning itself as a partner in technology adoption and helping practices choose the right tools and integrate them at a pace that fits each business.