Far Sighted

Corley’s foresight spurs development of medical innovations

From an early age, J. Andy Corley’s vision was to join the medical field. Later, it became a vision that brought him international acclaim.

Corley (`78) is corporate vice president and global president of surgical products, for Bausch & Lomb. As a child in Eatonton, Ga., he watched his mom manage a local medical office. “The guys with the nicest cars and who wore the nicest clothes were those pharmaceutical sales reps,” laughed Corley. “My mom always said, ‘You should get one of those jobs. That looks pretty good!’”

He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration and set out to make a career in pharmaceuticals. “When I graduated from Georgia Southern, I replied to an ad in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as a sales rep for a company called Allergan Pharmaceuticals,” he said. “Allergan is now famous as the company that makes Botox. I went to work for them in 1978 straight out of Georgia Southern. The first time I ever got on an airplane was to fly to the training class in California.”

Corley said he enjoyed the work, but the nature of pharmaceutical sales was more “information-sharing” than selling. So, in 1984 he shifted to American Medical Optics, a company that sold lasers and other medical devices. “I really liked the speed and the pace of that business,” he said. “I preferred it over the pharmaceutical business. That’s how I started in medical devices.

Two years later, he co-founded Chiron, serving as general manager of the refractive surgery business. “Our claim to fame at Chiron was that our division developed the LASIK procedure,” said Corley. “My team developed LASIK, educated surgeons, and brought the technology into the country that made that happen.”

Chiron was eventually sold and Corley partnered with ophthalmologist J. Stuart Cumming in 1988 to start a new company, eyeonics, Inc. “We had two breakthroughs that were significant at eyeonics,” Corley said. “Number one, we got an ‘accommodating’ lens approved. This was a lens that, after cataract surgery, responds to the brain’s commands and focuses,” he explained. “Patients could literally have the best vision they’ve ever had in their lives after cataract surgery. The second part was that we were successful in getting the government to change the rules by which cataract surgery is paid. Patients have to elect and pay for this type of lens by itself, and prior to eyeonics it was against the law for you to purchase an upgrade if you were in the Medicare system. That took years of lobbying in Washington.”

Bausch & Lomb bought eyeonics in 2008 and brought Corley on board in his current role in which he oversees a worldwide division with 1,700 employees and $550 million in sales. “We do business in more than 100 countries,” said Corley. “We have to work real hard to get alignment and keep our messages straight all around the world, but it’s a fun challenge.”