Who We Are

At its core, Hope For Vision is a group of people like you–people who care about the millions going blind; people who want to know about and celebrate the scientific progress and who want to do whatever they can to support the goal of vision. Hope For Vision is your organization. It exists to help you spread the word and raise support.

Board of Advisors

  • Adrienne Arsht, Chairman Emerita, Total Bank
  • Rudy Beserra, Vice President, The Coca-Cola Company
  • Alex Campos, Chairman, PC Group Holdings
  • The Honorable Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart
  • The Honorable Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart
  • Doctor Jaime Edelstein, MD
  • Josh Gottheimer, Executive Vice President, Worldwide, Burson-Marsteller
  • David Humphrey, Associate, Bain Capital
  • Betti Lidsky, Founder, Hope For Vision’s Heart Sight Miami
  • Carlos Lidsky, Managing Partner, Lidsky, Vaccaro & Montes
  • Ann Rasch, Founder, Hope For Vision’s Greater Chicago Community of Hope
  • The Honorable Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
  • Ira Rosenmertz, Hope For Vision’s Greater Chicago Community of Hope
  • The Honorable Congressman Pete Sessions
  • Michael Veeck, President, Goldklang Group

Board of Directors

  • Isaac J. Lidsky, Founder, Chairman and President

    isaac@hopeforvision.org

    Isaac is currently an associate at the law firm of Jones Day in Washington, DC, and beginning in July 2008, he will start a one-year clerkship with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. He is an honors graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Judge Thomas Ambro of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. For the past three years, he served on the Appellate Staff for the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. In addition, Isaac is
    the founder and former executive vice president for product development of [x+1], a thriving Internet advertising technology company in Manhattan.

    Isaac regularly appears in the national media to promote Hope for Vision’s mission, testifies before congressional bodies to stress the urgent need for federal funding, and serves as a mentor to individuals and families coping with blinding disease. In addition, he frequently speaks about dealing with vision loss at conferences, symposia, fund-raising events, and in school classrooms. Isaac has retinitis pigmentosa.

  • Erich Wasserman, Vice President and Secretary

    erich@hopeforvision.org

    Erich is currently vice president of accounts at MediaMath, an online advertising technology company based in New York. Prior to joining MediaMath, Erich was director of strategic partner development at [x+1]. Prior to [x+1], Erich served as executive director at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) where he oversaw the vast expansion and rollout of fund raising, public advocacy, program, and technology operations. Erich is a graduate of the University of Virginia where he concentrated in political theory, philosophy, and classical piano.

  • Zac Merriman, Treasurer

    zac@hopeforvision.org

    Zac Merriman is an Investment Analyst with Capital Research Global Investors, a division of Capital Research and Management. Capital is an investment management company that manages the American Funds family of mutual funds. Prior to working at Capital, Zac was a partner with Integral Capital Partners, a technology-focused private and public equity investment firm. He graduated from Harvard College with an honors degree in Government.

  • Dorothy J. Lidsky

    dorothy@hopeforvision.org

    Dorothy Lidsky has much experience in the world of non-profit fundraising, having worked in the development offices of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and “The Jimmy Fund” of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. She has specialized incorporate and foundation giving, and the management of decentralized grassroots campaigns. She is a graduate of Harvard College where she concentrated in art history, and will soon begin her studies at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London, where she will obtain a masters degree in art business.

  • Paul Nathanson

    paul@hopeforvision.org

    Paul Nathanson is an associate at the law firm Baker Botts L.L.P. He formerly served as a law clerk to Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States, and to federal appellate judges Laurence H. Silberman and Paul V. Niemeyer. He is an honors graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School, and prior to law school, worked in investment banking and private equity.