For Larry S. Tavel MD, the Dr. Tavel organization has been a life long endeavor. He worked with the company while growing up and learned from his father, Dr. David Tavel, how to grow and operate a successful business. He built on his father’s success and today oversees the largest vision care provider in Indiana, among other companies and organizations.
A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, Dr. Tavel graduated from North Central High School and earned his bachelors of arts from Indiana University in 1972 and his medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine in 1977. He completed a flexible medicine residency at Lutheran General Hospital in Chicago, Illinois in 1978 and, then, studied ophthalmology at the University of Kansas, in Kansas City. He received licenses to practice Medicine in Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and California.
Dr. Tavel returned to work with his father in the Dr. Tavel organization in 1980. During the ensuing years, which reflected a period of rapid and substantial growth, Dr. Tavel became the President, CEO and managing partner of all of the affiliated companies and partnerships associated with the organization. In these capacities, he has touched and influenced every aspect of the various businesses.
Dr. Tavel is a long time board member of the Westview Healthplex Sports Club, a former member of the Indiana University Alliance, a member of the Young Presidents Organization, the World Presidents Organization, a graduate and member of the FBI Citizens Academy, a member of Beth-el Zedek Temple and the Jewish Community Center, a lifetime member of the Nature Conservancy in both Indiana and North Carolina, a supporter the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, the Indiana University Foundation, the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the American Red Cross of Greater Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Indianapolis Inc, the Indiana Historical Society, the Eiteljorg Museum of Native American and Western Art, the Indiana State Museum, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, People for the American Way, the Indiana and American Civil Liberties Union, and many other charitable and social organizations too numerous to mention.
As Chief Financial Officer at Dr. Tavel Optical Group, Scott McFarland brings more than 24 years of accounting expertise to the business. He joined Dr. Tavel in 1996 after eight years with Methodist and its affiliate hospitals. With an emphasis on cost management and compliance, he helps Dr. Tavel maintain a competitive position in the marketplace and continue to provide affordable eye care services. Most recently, he helped improve business practices around point-of-sale, lens prescriptions and billing practices that have increased efficiencies and reduced paper waste.
Scott graduated in 1984 from Indiana University with a bachelor of science degree in accounting. He became a licensed certified public accountant in 1995.
As Chief Operating Officer of Dr. Tavel Optical Group, Kevin Gearheart oversees the daily optical business and operations at all 19 Dr. Tavel Optical centers.
He has focused most of his energy recently on the installation of new optometric software to reduce paper waste and increase efficiency across the enterprise from point-of-sale, to lens prescriptions to transmitting data to the lab and electronic billing.
He’s also streamlined online sales and is spearheading a new initiative to focus on educating patients about the benefits of complete eye health care. For example, Dr. Tavel has implemented new scanning and imaging technologies to track a patient’s eye health over time.
Gearheart graduated in 1998 from Wabash College with a degree in psychology. After a short stint in Colorado to participate in a management development program, he returned to Indiana and started a real estate company, which he continued to operate while he finished his MBA at Indiana University.
Kevin first joined Dr. Tavel to help with real estate deals and to build an e-commerce business plan, but quickly got involved in the optical business. It took only five months for the company to promote him to COO.
© 2009 Dr. Tavel