Walt Fleming Awarded Presidential Medal of Honor

The people around Walt Fleming are pretty good at keeping a secret. He had absolutely no idea he was being awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor from Salus University president Michael H. Mittelman, OD ‘80, MPH, MBA, FAAO, FACHE.
 
Fleming is vice president of Field Maintenance and Quality Assurance for National Vision, Inc. (NVI), the second largest and one of the fastest growing optical retail companies in the United States. He has been in the optical business for 38 years, the last 15 of which has been with National Vision. The company’s chief executive officer and president, Reade Fahs, has been a member of the Salus Board of Trustees since 2017.
 
The University’s Presidential Medal of Honor is bestowed upon those individuals who have made significant contributions to their profession and for their service to Salus. The ceremony honoring Fleming was held Oct. 5, 2023, at NVI corporate headquarters in Duluth, Georgia.
 
“We give the Presidential Medal of Honor to individuals, generally optometrists, who have done things throughout their career that directly affects the profession and directly affects the people they're working with,” said Dr. Mittelman during the presentation. “And, Walt, in your case as a non-optometrist, the contributions you've made to optometry and vision care are significant. I know you did it through the vehicle of National Vision, but you have made an impact in people's lives that really sometimes cannot be measured.”
 
Fahs made it clear the event wasn’t a retirement party for Fleming. “This is not that. That will be a later time. This is just a day to honor a career of service to optometry. Thank you, Walt,” said Fahs.
 
For his part, Fleming, while wondering out loud who pulled off the event without tipping him off in advance, thanked the company and the people he works with, along with Salus, for the recognition. 
 
“The optometric community that I get to support are absolutely wonderful,” said Fleming. “Most of all what each and every one of you do — and not just me, but each and every one of you do every day — to support NVI and our patients, our doctors, is fabulous.”