Month: July 2020

John McInerney recently retired as the Interim CEO of the Pennsylvania Association for the Blind where he held this position since April, 2018.   As the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation, he was accountable to the Corporation’s Board of Directors. As such, he was responsible for overall planning, integration of effort, fiscal accounting, supervision of operations and staff, and evaluation of programs toward attainment of the PAB’s mission, and work, as expressed in approved grants, contracts and work plans. 

Prior to accepting this position, John served on a Board of Directors for the non-profit organization, Blind and vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh.  John retired from the Westinghouse Electric Company as VP of Engineering in 2015 after a 40 year engineering and management career in the commercial nuclear power industry.  John consulted in the nuclear industry until accepting the interim CEO position at PAB.

After stepping away from the day-to-day corporate environment, I wanted to give back by pursuing a second career in the non-profit sector with a focus on visual impairment/blindness.   Specifically, having lost my functional vision in my early 40’s because of Retinitis Pigmantosa (RP), I clearly understood the needs and challenges that visually impaired individuals are faced with as they move through different phases of their lives.  Whether it is being a student trying to learn without vision, a young adult struggling to enter the workforce, or a mature adult trying to cope with a degenerative eye condition, I can relate first hand to their struggles and challenges, both from a physical and psychological perspective.  Consequently, my personal and corporate management experience provided me with the opportunity to work in a nonprofit in order to help improve the lives of those dealing with vision loss.