Virginia A. Jacko, President and Chief Executive Officer

As President and CEO of Miami Lighthouse for the Blind, Virginia Jacko is committed to ensuring that blind and visually impaired adults, low vision seniors, Florida's schoolchildren without resources for eyecare, and Miami's early learners and school-age youth have equitable access to vision rehabilitation, blindness prevention, and education.

She was a financial executive at Purdue University for 22 years, including 12 years directing financial affairs for the President and Provost. In her leadership role, she applies her acumen in financial and program development, governmental and donor relations, accreditation, and compliance arenas in overseeing Miami Lighthouse. Her expertise was enhanced by obtaining a certificate of completion in "Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management" from the Harvard Business School Executive Education Program.

During her 19-year tenure as President and CEO at Miami Lighthouse the number of program participants has grown from fewer than 500 in 2004 to over 26,000 annually in Fiscal Year 2023, and she has grown the organization's assets from $10 million to nearly $72 million. Because of her grant and contract expertise with public and private funding, Miami Lighthouse, for example, in 2023 had approximately 40 government contracts and funding from approximately 50 private foundations.

Under her leadership the agency's national Charity Navigator rating moved from 2 to 4 stars, the highest rating possible, and Miami Lighthouse has maintained its 4-star rating. Attaining a 4-star rating indicates that Miami Lighthouse adheres to sector best practices, exceeds industry standards, and executes its mission in a financially efficient way. In addition, Miami Lighthouse successfully completed all four of the new Charity Navigator Encompass Beacons, which provide a comprehensive analysis of performance across four key domains with nearly perfect scores: Accountability and Finance 100%, Leadership and Adaptability 100%, Impact and Measurement 98%, and Culture and Community 100%.

Ms. Jacko founded the Miami Lighthouse Academy, LLC, an Accredited Professional Preschool Learning Environment, which includes the first fully inclusive early learning prekindergarten for students ages one through four where visually impaired students learn along with their sighted peers pursuing the same curriculum, the HighScope Curriculum. The Miami Lighthouse prekindergarten program was featured in "Seeing Without Sight, Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired Adopts the HighScope Curriculum" in The Active Learner, HighScope's International Journal for Early Educators, Spring 2019, © Betsy Evans. Miami Lighthouse's Early Intervention Blind Babies Program was named by The Children's Trust Miami's 2016 Children's Program of the Year, and The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce awarded the Miami Lighthouse its coveted 2023 Nonprofit Business Innovative Excellence NOVO Award in recognition of its services to children especially as a leader in Cortical Visual Impairment.

With a grant from The Children's Trust, teams from the University of Miami research faculty and Miami Lighthouse have conducted collaborative research on the Miami Lighthouse Academy, LLC inclusion program. The research shows that the inclusion model has demonstrated benefits for students, teachers, and parents. Fifth-year results by researchers at the University of Miami found that the quality of teacher-child interactions in emotional and behavioral support once again exceeded the national average of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), an industry standard rating scale. Notably, the emotional support domain for toddlers scored 6.8 out of 7—more than two points above the national average of 4.62 out of 7.

Most recently, Ms. Jacko launched a comprehensive blind soccer initiative, the first of its kind, for children from age one through high school.

Concerned with the large number of visually impaired adults without a high school diploma (20%), she collaborated with Miami-Dade County Public School to provide an on-campus adult basic education, GED Program and English as a Second Language instruction enabling adults to attend college and pursue a career.

Recognizing that Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) is the number one cause of pediatric visual impairment in developed and developing countries and that unlike ocular vision impairment functional vision in children with CVI is expected to improve with early diagnosis, appropriate assessment, and intervention, she founded the Miami Lighthouse Cortical Visual Impairment Collaborative Center. In 2024, a private foundation awarded a two-year $2 million grant, for which she will serve as Principal Investigator, with subcontracts to the UM-Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Nova Southeastern University and Nicklaus Children's Hospital with the goals of improving diagnosis, assessments, and rehabilitation of children with CVI.

Ms. Jacko is the author of eight peer-reviewed, archival journal publications, four of which pertain to best practices for children that the Miami Lighthouse serves and has contributed chapters to scholarly books. She was a board officer and accreditation reviewer for the National Accreditation Council for Blind and Low Vision Services, named Distinguished Alumni by the College of Health and Human Sciences and the HHS Alumni Association, Purdue University and named to Purdue's elite "Old Masters." She has served on boards of foundations and nonprofits like the Girl Scouts, Easter Seals, and the Red Cross. She was a recipient of the Henry Viscardi International Achievement Award and now serves on the Viscardi Global Selection Committee. Locally, she has served on the Miami Foundation Community Advisory Council, and the Miami-Dade County Mayor's Health Equity Special Needs Advisory Committee and has received numerous awards from the Miami Lions and the Miami and Coral Gables Rotary Clubs.

As a national expert in website and distance learning accessibility for people with vision impairment, Ms. Jacko has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, TIME, Forbes, and the Chronicle of Higher Education and featured on NPR. In 2023, she was featured in The New York Times in "Women and Leadership: 7 Women Discuss their Journeys-Virginia Jacko, Accessibility and Education." Her advocacy for accessible digital information in the workplace, which has resulted in successfully placing clients in mainstream, competitive employment in the Greater Miami area, has been featured in national publications such as The Saturday Evening Post and New York Magazine .

Virginia received a Master of Science from the College of Health and Human Sciences of Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, and a Batchelor of Business Administration with a major in Finance and a minor in Accounting from Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois.

Click here to view CEO Jacko's Awards, Publications, Webinars, Presentations and Professional and Community Service.

Richard Fernandez, CPA, Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Richard Fernandez joined Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Inc. in September 2014 and serves as Chief Financial Officer for Miami Lighthouse and its' subsidiaries.

Mr. Fernandez has served as a Vice President of Finance and Senior Corporate Accountant for several major Florida-based corporations, including Banyan Health Systems, a major non-profit comprehensive behavioral healthcare provider, where he directed and oversaw the agency's financial planning and administration, including its accounting system. Most recently he served as President of Diligent Accounting Services, a full service accounting firm.

In addition to holding Certification as a Public Accountant for the State of Florida, Mr. Fernandez holds a Bachelor of Accounting and Master of Science in Taxation from Florida International University.

Carol Brady-Simmons, COMS, Chief Program Officer

Carol Brady-Simmons has been with Miami Lighthouse for more than 35 years and brings vibrant energy and creativity to the many projects she undertakes. She has served in many capacities during her tenure at Miami Lighthouse, including Chair of Orientation and Mobility; Interim Director of Adult Services, Director of Children's Services and the Low Vision Program and has served as Chief Program Officer for the last 10 years.

Ms. Brady-Simmons received her Associate of Arts in Elementary Education from Miami-Dade College, a Bachelor of Science in Visual Disabilities, Orientation and Mobility, a Bachelor of Science in Leisure Services and Studies, and a minor in Gerontology from Florida State University.

Cameron Sisser, Senior Vice President for External Relations

Cameron Sisser joined Miami Lighthouse in 2010 and brings extensive experience in network development, alliance building, relationship management, political outreach, and event planning. He previously served as Legislative Assistant to Senator Gwen Margolis and Senator Dan Gelber where he researched, tracked and wrote legislation, press releases, newsletters and policy briefs while interacting daily with community leaders and constituents. At Miami Lighthouse Mr. Sisser oversees our Florida Heiken Children's Vision Program along with communications and marketing, events and fundraising

Born in Miami, Mr. Sisser attended Ransom Everglades High School which prepared him for The George Washington University in Washington DC, where he graduated in 2005 with a bachelor of arts in political science. Mr. Sisser graduated with a Master's in Public Administration from Florida International University in 2011. Mr. Sisser also received a Certificate in Fund Raising Management from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy in 2019.

Jeff Rabalais, B.A., Senior Director of Facilities & Transportation

Jeff Rabalais brings to Miami Lighthouse academic credentials in architecture and extensive experience in facilities management, space planning, project management, events and food service.

The skills and knowledge he has obtained throughout his career allow him to manage a broad range of services that span client transportation, building maintenance, janitorial needs, in-house catering, disaster preparation and building compliance to maintain a safe, clean, secure environment for Miami Lighthouse clients, employees and visitors. Mr. Rabalais has served as Owners Representative on three major construction projects which expanded Miami Lighthouse from 30,000 square-feet to 150,000 square-feet. Mr. Rabalais obtained his Bachelor of Architecture Degree from the University of Louisiana.