Top Executives Position The Chicago Lighthouse for Even Greater Impact

This year is off to a great start as we welcome three new executives to help The Chicago Lighthouse reach new heights of excellence. Tony Fiore, Brandie Knazze and John Roselli have come on board as our new Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Innovation Officer, respectively. Together, they will support our already outstanding Executive Leadership Team in furthering our mission, increasing our impact and empowering the communities we serve.

Read on to learn more about these three new members of our community, what inspired them to join The Lighthouse, and what they’re looking forward to in their respective roles.

Tony Fiore: Chief Financial Officer
Tony has a personal connection to our mission. Twenty years ago, his wife’s grandfather was diagnosed with macular degeneration. “I witnessed the many challenges he faced as a result of his condition,” says Tony. “He had difficulties navigating his home safely and lost the ability to do things he loved, like watching Cubs games.” Wanting to learn more about his condition, Tony joined the board of the Guild for the Blind (now called Second Sense), an organization that provides mobility and social support for people who are blind and visually impaired. While serving on the Board, including as board president, he gained valuable insight into the resources and tools available to empower people with vision impairments to live independently. He also has several pieces of art in his office and home from artists who are blind and visually impaired.

After serving as Chief Financial Officer of the Family Institute at Northwestern University, Tony sees his new role at The Lighthouse as a natural fit, given his passion for our mission. As CFO, Tony is focusing on ensuring our organization is in the best financial position possible through initiatives including an enhanced, collaborative budgeting process for the new fiscal year and building a strong cash flow projection model.

“I’m really excited about what’s ahead,” Tony says. “I have a great team and we’ve already experienced tremendous organizational growth and now it’s about taking the organization to the next level. I’m excited to see the impact we can make as we continue to serve our mission.”

Brandie Knazze: Chief Operating Officer 
With extensive experience in grants management, organizational design, strategic planning, and crisis management across the government and consulting sectors, Brandie is an accomplished leader eager to apply her expertise in support of the communities we serve. Before joining The Lighthouse, Brandie served as Commissioner of the City of Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services, leading human and social services for various populations including youth, seniors, returning residents and those experiencing homelessness. She also led the city’s humanitarian response to support over 50,000 migrants who arrived in Chicago and coordinated access to food, shelter, education and healthcare services for these individuals.

“One of our biggest challenges was finding ways to support individuals who were disabled and blind,” says Brandie. “That experience inspired me to explore how I could use my skills in human and social services to help create programs that empower individuals with disabilities to gain independence and thrive.” Like Tony, Brandie also has a personal connection to our mission. A few years ago, she experienced her own visual challenges, which gave her a deeper understanding of the obstacles faced by the visually impaired community.

As COO, Brandie will work with The Lighthouse’s leadership team to expand job opportunities for our clients, advocate for more resources for the blind, visually impaired and disabled communities at the state and federal levels, and explore new and innovative ways to leverage technology to enhance our work. In the long-term, she plans to expand and promote services for youth and seniors who are visually impaired to help them take advantage of available resources and live full, active and vibrant lives.  “Every individual who comes through our doors has a story, and it is my goal that we help them realize their full potential,” Brandie says.

John Roselli: Chief Innovation Officer 
After a 35-year career in the private sector, John comes to the nonprofit world as The Lighthouse’s first Chief Innovation Officer. “I’ve been a for-profit guy my entire life and thought that at this time in my career, it would be great to leverage my business acumen and skills in a way that helps people,” he says. John was drawn to The Lighthouse by our unique social enterprise model and is excited for the opportunity to strengthen and expand these operations and the resources they provide for the disabled community.

John has a strong record of driving business growth. As an executive at Adtalem Global Education, he oversaw $1 billion in mergers and acquisitions, established a corporate-wide strategic planning process, and drove expansion into various healthcare educational programs that resulted in over $400 million of new revenue. Though he is only a few weeks into his role at The Lighthouse, John has already identified several opportunities to expand our retail and call center operations, as well as ways to further leverage our innovative approach to low vision research and clinical trials.

“We offer so many valuable resources to the community that can’t be found anywhere else,” says John.  “My mission is to fuel growth, especially in our social enterprises, because when they thrive, we generate more profit to reinvest into these vital social services.”