ABOUT US

Carl R. Augusto, Board Chair

Carl served 25 years as president and CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind before retiring in June 2016. During his tenure, he forged numerous strategic partnerships and alliances and expanded the AFB’s influence on corporate America, leading to more products and services that improve the quality of life for people with profound vision loss.

Carl created and expanded the organization’s award-winning technology programs and services, and strengthened its financial standing. Before taking the helm at the AFB, Carl spent two decades in a variety of professional and volunteer capacities. For example, he led the Cincinnati Association for the Blind for six years, expanding service programs to encompass assistive technology training and early childhood intervention.

Carl served on the AFB’s board of trustees, as a member and secretary of the Board of Directors of National Industries for the Blind, and as president of the North American-Caribbean Region of the World Blind Union. The Mahwah resident has received numerous honors and awards during his impressive career. He holds a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling from New York University, a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Connecticut, and was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters from Saint Peter’s College in New Jersey.

Ming Wu, Vice Chair

Ming has spent most of her career working in business development and marketing in the legal sector. She has worked for international law firms in the UK and in Hong Kong. She has a BSc (Hons) Psychology from the University of Leeds. Originally from the UK, Ming now lives in New Jersey.

In recent years Ming has volunteered for UK based non-profits, The Royal National Institute for the Blind and Wakefield District Sight Aid. Ming has a passion for improving the lives of people living with sight loss and raising awareness of related topics, which she writes about on her blog.

Kelly Bleach, Vice Chair

Kelly has focused her career on applying forward-thinking management practices to the nonprofit sector, including more than twenty-five years at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), where she served as Chief Business Officer. Her professional responsibilities included oversight of finance, information technology, human resources, sales, and real estate. She regularly worked with contractors on building accessible physical and virtual workspaces and collaborated with several technology companies (e.g., Microsoft, Facebook, Dropbox) to improve the usability of their products for people with visual impairment. In 2022, Kelly completed her Ph.D. in Leadership and Change at Antioch University, focusing her research on promising practices for leveraging technology to advance inclusion of people with disabilities. She earned an M.S. in Computer Information Systems from the University of Phoenix and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Florida.

Carol Burgio, Secretary

Carol has more than 20 years of experience working in the futures industry at several financial institutions in New York.  She currently works in the Global Markets division at Santander Bank as a Senior Product Specialist in the Exchange Traded Derivatives department. Prior to joining Santander, she held senior roles at Jefferies Financial Group, Prudential Bache, and HSBC Securities. She holds FINRA series 3, 7, 24 and 63 licenses. Carol has served as a volunteer at the Lighthouse Guild in NY and the Literacy Volunteers of America in Hudson and Morris counties prior to joining VLANJ’s board. She earned a BS Degree in Finance from the University at Albany’s School of Business.

Juan Carlos Sanchez, Treasurer

Juan has 17 years of experience in finance & accounting. For the last 2 years, Juan has served as the CFO and COO of General Vision Services in New York City, a leading Eyecare Benefits Administrator and PPO provider of eyecare plans in the Northeast. As CFO he handles all financial responsibilities of the organization, as well as Human Resources and IT decisions and processes; as COO he runs the internal operations of the company. Prior to this position he served as Controller for Integra Partners for five years. During his early career Juan served in various accounting & bookkeeping positions, including 6 years at OTC Markets Group as their Assistant Controller, a financial services firm. Juan earned a BS Degree in Accounting at Queens College and is currently pursuing his executive MBA at the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College.

Frank Cafasso

Frank Cafasso has spent the better part of the last 35 years in the Tax Accounting field. He graduated from Fordham University in 1984 and during his last two years there he worked for H&R Block to prepare himself for graduation. Upon graduating, he accepted a job with the financial outfit American Capital. Once there, he realized that sales was not something he wanted to pursue. Several years later, Frank sat for the Enrolled Agent Exam since the CPA Exam was not available based on his college credentials. After passing the exam in May of 1988, he became an Enrolled Agent and worked for Newsholmes & Associates in New York City. His role as a personal accountant and money manager to various jazz musicians was the core of the firm. He worked with musicians such as David Sanborn, David Grusin, and Chaka Khan. In 1993, Frank accepted his next position at Alan Handler & Associates and worked with Alan for 10 years before buying him out once Alan retired. Since 2003, he has been the owner of Frank Cafasso, EA LLC and enjoys every minute of it! Being an owner has its perks as Frank can handle every facet of accounting from personal to business to estate. Almost 40 years since graduating and he still enjoys what he is doing by helping people!

Anthony DiPonio

Anthony DiPonio is an experienced Technology professional with over 25 years leading technology strategy and operations for many well known brands across the financial, retail, and media industries including TIAA, Citi, WW, and Guardian News & Media. He draws on his deep knowledge in areas such as enterprise support, infrastructure management, information security, asset management, data privacy, and development to deliver world class technology to the organizations he serves. He adheres to a “pay it forward” ethos by freely sharing his hard won knowledge and experience, not only with the teams he manages, but also with those who are early along on their professional journeys. Most recently, Anthony served as a mentor for the American Foundation for the Blind’s – Blind Leadership Development Program, a year-long program pairing accomplished blind or visually impaired leaders with young blind or visually impaired professionals to impart strategies and lessons for success in the broader sighted world. In his spare time, Anthony enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, history, and playing chess.

Lukas Franck

Lukas is a COMS and a Guide Dog Mobility Instructor. He graduated from the State University of New York at New Paltz with a BA in Speech Pathology and Audiology. He began his apprenticeship at The Seeing Eye in 1978. 

Leaving after eight years he attended Western Michigan University and earned a Masters in Orientation and Mobility in 1987. He rejoined the Seeing Eye’s staff shortly after completing his degree. In 1993 He became a ‘community instructor’, traveling full time across the United States and Canada. As a result of his experiences in this capacity he became interested in Environmental Access.

He served as chair of the Environmental Access committee of AER and is still active on that committee. He has worked with the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices to standardize American  accessible pedestrian signals (APS) and has worked to create and enhance communication and understanding between orientation and mobility specialists, people who are blind or visually impaired, and traffic engineers.

Currently Lukas is the Senior Consultant for Special Projects for the Seeing Eye. He teaches classes on guide dogs at university programs across the United States and Canada. He continues to interview applicants and troubleshoot guide dog teams and innovate in the guide dog training space. He is interested in harness design and holds a US patent on an ergonomically designed harness handle.  He has been an Assessor for the International Guide Dog Federation, and is currently on the IGDF Development Committee.

He is also president of a museum called Pacem in Terris in Warwick, New York dedicated to the work of Frederick Franck, his father.

Lukas is a past winner of the Orientation and Mobility Division’s Sandy Kronick Distinguished Service Award, the American Foundation for the Blind’s Access Award, and the Ethel Bender award from Guide Dogs Users Incorporated.

Tajma Kotoric

Tajma is the CEO of New Jersey Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons which is one of the oldest medical associations in the country representing approximately 9,000 osteopathic physicians, residents, and medical students in New Jersey. She also manages NJAOPS’ political action committee called JOPAC and foundation called NJOEF. Tajma also serves as a Board of Trustees for NEWJOBS which is the largest business oriented PAC in New Jersey. Tajma’s interest in VLANJ came about as her late grandfather, who was blind, headed a blind advocacy organization in the former Yugoslavia, traveling across Europe to raise awareness and financial support.

Christopher Reichert

Christopher has over 35 years of mortgage banking experience, of which 30 of those years have been with Wells Fargo.

His past experience has included a cross section of positions in underwriting, training, product development, retail and wholesale originations, and currently in servicing.  In his former role as an account manager, he has consistently qualified for presidents club ranking him in the top 5% of all account executives in the bank.  He has been a featured speaker on the subject of sales training and loss mitigation throughout the country with audiences consisting of banking and real estate professionals, tax advisors and attorneys. He earned a BA Degree in Criminal Justice and Political Science from The University at Albany. Chris is a member and past president of the Saddle River Valley Lions Club.

Phil So

Phil So is an expert for national initiatives with the American Foundation for the Blind, where he serves as a workforce development and training specialist. His personal mission is to help people — especially those with disabilities — achieve their dreams. The Fort Lee resident is founder and leader of three community initiatives, and served as a sub-committee member with the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities. In the public opinion research field and later in the corporate world serving Fortune 500 companies — including Kraft and Toyota—So specialized in data analytics and market insights. He taught digital skills and marketing courses to blind college students at the Computer Center for Visually Impaired People at Baruch College, where he also led the center’s marketing team and served on its advisory board. 

So holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Columbia University. For his master’s degree in instructional technology at Touro Graduate School of Technology, he conducted analysis on Israel’s successful assistive technology innovation ecosystem. So is inspired by VLANJ’s history and mission, and believes the nonprofit can address inequities faced by people with vision loss or blindness, including high rates of joblessness. He will use his expertise to provide VLANJ guidance on programming and organizational strategies, and to develop approaches for fostering social inclusion and economic advances for adults with vision loss. So also intends to serve as a VLANJ volunteer/mentor.

Tzu-Lin Toner

Tzu-Lin Toner has spent the past 20 years in the field of recreation programming with the last 10 years at Montclair State University’s Department of Campus Recreation as Assistant Director of Special Events and Marketing.

She graduated from Wesleyan University with a BA in East Asian Studies and from Columbia University with an MBA in Finance. Her education led her to a marketing career with Procter & Gamble International, opening the China market for name products as Head & Shoulders and Oil of Olay. After moving to New Jersey, she entered the recreation field as Community Activities Director of New Providence.

Tzu-Lin’s volunteer experience has included being President of the Parent’s Association in two different K-12 schools, the co-founder of the New Providence Tennis Association and currently a board member of the Asian & Pacific Islander Caucus at Montclair State. She looks forward to learning about and contributing to the work of the Vision Loss Alliance of NJ.