Virginia Jacko

As President and CEO of Miami Lighthouse for the Blind, Virginia Jacko is committed to ensuring the blind and visually impaired, low vision seniors and financially disadvantaged schoolchildren without resources for eye care, regardless of age, socio-economic status or ethnicity, have equitable access to education, blindness prevention programs, and vision rehabilitation training. She applies her acumen in financial and program development, governmental and donor relations, accreditation and compliance arenas as President and CEO of Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Inc., President of the Florida Heiken Children's Vision Program, LLC, President of Miami Lighthouse Academy, LLC and President of the New Miami Lighthouse Learning Center, Inc. Her leadership 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 term as CEO Miami Lighthouse has gained recognition as a national Center of Excellence through professional publications and academic presentations. She is a national expert in website and distance learning accessibility for people with vision impairment, having been quoted by The Wall Street Journal, TIME, NPR, Forbes and the Chronicle of Higher Education and introduced accessible technology consulting led by two computer scientists who, like her, are totally blind. U.S. Presidential candidates contacted Miami Lighthouse to help make their websites accessible, and some of the work Miami Lighthouse has been doing as thought leaders in the industry has gained national attention from media giants like TIME and Politico. To learn more how your organization can build a more inclusive workforce or website, learn more at www.miamilighthouse.org.One important measurement of her successful executive management is recognized by Charity Navigator. During her tenure Miami Lighthouse moved from a 2-star to 4-star charity, and has received their highest 4-star designation 13 consecutive times, signifying that Miami Lighthouse is among the nation’s top 1% most effective among the 9,000 nonprofits evaluated annually. It is among the elite 67 charities that have attained perfect scores for Financial Health as well as Accountability & Transparency resulting in an overall score of 100.