Why the LightHouse Board Chair Must Resign.

Image Description: Letter of Resignation paper in an envelope.

In a mass email, the Board Chair of LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired (LightHouse), Jennison Asuncion, argues that a “partnership” between LightHouse and the New York–based Lighthouse Guild International (Guild) would stabilize the organization. Our response is unambiguous: Asuncion must resign as Board Chair immediately. His actions and omissions must be investigated by relevant government oversight bodies for possible corruption, governance failures, and mismanagement of LightHouse.

Let’s Get to the Facts First

In his message, Asuncion states that he supports Guild’s takeover because it would “bring stability and give us focused time, without distractions, to address the issues we are all very aware of.” He points to challenges such as staff reductions, the unexpected departure of former CEO Sharon Giovinazzo, and difficult decisions related to the fiscal year 2026 budget. He asserts that the Guild partnership would allow LightHouse to maintain “existing levels” of services while jointly reviewing operations, programs, and opportunities for growth.

Yet Asuncion’s “A Note from the Board Chair” fails to provide even a semblance of transparency. He mentions that LightHouse needs a new CEO and CFO—without disclosing that the Board, under his leadership, deliberately delayed the CEO search until some time in 2026, contrary to the blind community’s clear demands. He also fails to explain whether the CFO resigned, was pushed out, or was laid off. Our information indicates that the CFO had been planning to leave earlier this year due to disputes with senior leadership.

LightHouse’s 2024 IRS Form 990 shows the organization generated $54.8 million in revenue and spent $45 million. Leading up to mid-2024, LightHouse expanded its workforce. Meanwhile, the Board refused to enter into a bargaining agreement with LightHouse United, the union formed in 2023 by blind and visually impaired employees responding to years of unresolved structural issues. Instead of engaging constructively with its workers, LightHouse’s leadership appears to have spent substantial funds fighting the union and other legal challenges arising from failures of governance under both Asuncion and his predecessor, Sharon Sacks.

We Deserve Much More Than a Condescending Note

In his email, Asuncion claims that rejecting the Guild takeover would force LightHouse into an “alternative budget” requiring immediate layoffs and union concessions. But our information suggests a very different reality.

The union’s demands primarily concern structural reform, not financial giveaways: ending unjustified dismissals, creating protections against retaliation, and addressing a toxic culture of discrimination consistent with LightHouse policies, state and federal law, and San Francisco labor ordinances. These are governance reforms, not costly demands. If the union is seeking major financial concessions, Asuncion should publicly document them. If not, his narrative is misleading at best.

When Guild and LightHouse executives held their so-called “fireside chats,” community members repeatedly asked:

• What will happen to LightHouse’s core programs if the takeover proceeds?

• What happens to the current executives responsible for years of discrimination and mismanagement?

• What guarantees will protect the independence of Bay Area blind leadership?

They received no meaningful answers.

After the tense November 12, 2025 fireside chat, LightHouse canceled the next one—apparently unwilling to face the community again. Instead, leadership rushed out an FAQ composed of pre-selected, sanitized questions that completely ignored the community’s concerns. The message was unmistakable:

“Here is what you need to know. Now stop asking questions.”

This is not transparency. This is contempt.

The Real Solution Is Resignation

Fearmongering does not fix LightHouse’s leadership crisis. Nor will outsourcing the future of a century-old Bay Area institution to an out-of-state conglomerate with a history of centralizing control and cutting community-rooted services.

When the Jewish Guild for the Blind merged into what is now the Guild over a decade ago, the result was:

• significant cuts to culturally specific programs,

• loss of long-standing community relationships,

• diminished local control, and

• consolidation of power in New York.

This is the predictable outcome of mergers framed as “stabilizing partnerships.” Stability does not come from consolidation; it comes from ethical governance, transparent leadership, and community accountability. No matter how Asuncion tries to spin it, the Guild takeover represents the end of LightHouse as it has existed and served the Bay Area blind community for over 120 years.

A Pattern of Neglect and Protectionism

Asuncion was a LightHouse Board member in 2022 when former CEO Bryan Bashin was accused of sexual harassment. He was present when LightHouse’s then-COO Brandon Cox received a counseling memo in September 2022 from then-Board Chair Sharon Sacks. He heard repeated reports from current and former employees describing a pervasive culture of discrimination, retaliation, and harassment—particularly under Cox and former CEO Giovinazzo.

Instead of exercising his fiduciary duty to hold these executives accountable, Asuncion chose to protect them.

This is leadership failure. The crisis that is being used to push through the takeover is the result of governance failure that won’t be solved by placing LightHouse under the control of another organization with its own questionable past.

If LightHouse Is to Stabilize, Asuncion Must Resign

Asuncion is celebrated nationally as the co-founder of Global Accessibility Awareness Day and as Head of Accessibility at LinkedIn. We expected him to stand with the blind community, not with the ableist, sighted executives responsible for LightHouse’s decline. Instead, he has aligned himself with professionalized, ableist paternalism—the very force that has historically harmed blind communities and eroded our institutions.

For LightHouse to survive, rebuild trust, and reclaim its mission, one step must occur immediately:

Jennison Asuncion must resign. Now.