Lighthouse Central Florida CEO leaves after 18 years
Joe Nasehi came into this world the size of a Barbie doll. Born 15 weeks early, he had cerebral palsy and intellectual impairment and, because the blood vessels in his eyes had not yet formed, he was blind.
That last fact would change the path of his mother’s life — and the life of thousands of Central Floridians after him.
“He was our first child,” says his mom, Lee Nasehi. “We were so worried and so concerned about Joe, and until we met this organization in Orlando, there was nobody who could tell us, ‘Your son’s going to be happy, and your family’s going to be happy, and he’s going to learn how to do things, and he can be a part of your life and you’re not going to have to institutionalize him.’”
The organization was then called CITE — Center for Inde-
pendence, Technology and Education — and it consisted solely of two classes at what was then Valencia Community College for parents whose children had special needs. Lee Nasehi, who had a degree in socialwork administration, was so profoundly grateful for the information and support, she agreed to become a parttime grant writer for CITE and, in 2000, was offered the post of chief executive.
Last week, at 61, she officially retired from the agency, now called Lighthouse Central Florida — the region’s only private, nonprofit agency offering rehabilitation, education, support, technology and work opportunities for blind and severely visually impaired people of all ages and their families. Though she left to head the national VisionServe Alliance — a membership group of agencies like Lighthouse across the country — she’ll still live in Central Florida and still be a supporter of her favorite local nonprofit.
In her 20 years at the charity, 18 of them at the helm, she rebranded it as Lighthouse, won national accreditation and oversaw programs for visually impaired toddlers, their parents, school kids, teens and adults — teaching them to navigate an often terrifying new world.
Most significantly, she led the launch of Lighthouse Works, a separate nonprofit that now employs 115 people and gives those with limited vision a chance to learn job skills, boost their resumes and climb a career ladder.
“A paycheck is the best social program around,” says David Odahowski, president and CEO of the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation, which has awarded Lighthouse about three-quarters of a million dollars in grants over the years. “It solves a lot of problems. And it’s outstanding what they’re doing with Lighthouse Works.”
The business, tucked behind the SODO shopping district, offers jobs for both sighted and nonsighted employees in various operations: a call center, light assembly work, a fulfillment center and monitoring and remediating websites and apps for accessibility to the visually impaired. Most recently, it began helping the military on a huge backlog of contracts.
“I love it,” says Fred Morgan, 49, a former heavyequipment operator who lost his sight in 2005 because of a genetic condition. He now handles calls through a dual headset, with the voice of the caller in one ear and, in the other, the voice of a computer that reads what’s on the screen in front of him so he can find telephone extensions and information. He is so fast that people on the other end of the line have no clue he can’t see.
“I started here with the independent-living skills classes, graduated that and then went to the access technology [program] and learned how to use a computer,” he says. “[Nasehi] is awesome. She has been a great leader for this organization.”
Ironically, it was something she never set out to do.
The part-time grant writer job came as Nasehi’s youngest of four children turned 2.
“The organization was conducting a national search for a new executive director, and I did not apply for the position and had no intention of doing it. … It was a much bigger job than I thought I wanted then,” she says.
She agreed to take it on an interim basis at first and, when the search failed to turn up a strong candidate, the board offered Nasehi the position permanently. Eventually, she agreed.
“I thought, ‘I’ll be here seven years. Seven years is long enough for any chief executive,’” she says. “But there was just always something more I wanted to do here.”
Among her friends and mentors is Margaret Linnane, executive director of the Edyth Bush Institute for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership at Rollins College, who came up through Central Florida’s nonprofit ranks at the same time.
“I give her tremendous credit,” says Linnane, who retired herself late last week. “I think she has done a superb job there — providing services, determining need, expanding carefully … and as the technology for blind services has improved, she has worked to make that more accessible to people.”
Each year, the charity’s big fundraising event is the Sight & Sole Walkfest at Cranes Roost Park in Altamonte Springs (this year on March 2). And each year, Joe Nasehi turns out with family and friends.
He is 37 now, and despite doctor’s predictions to the contrary, he can walk and talk, and he lives in a residential program run by the Catholic diocese.
He has his own team for the walkfest — Joe B’s Jammers — though his “walk” typically turns into an impromptu dance. It’s how he expresses joy. “He has a pretty good life,” Lee Nasehi says as she prepares to pack up her office. “And he has influenced and touched the lives of so many. And were it not for him, I wouldn’t be here.”