Executive Team

Jim Meehan

President & CEO

Jim Meehan serves as President and CEO of Austin Lighthouse, leading the organization’s work to expand employment, independence, and opportunity for people who are blind or visually impaired. A retired U.S. Navy officer, Jim brings more than 40 years of service in military, nonprofit, and mission-driven leadership.

Throughout his career, Jim has focused on building strong mission-driven organizations that create opportunity one person at a time. Under his leadership, Austin Lighthouse has grown significantly, now providing employment and low vision services to more than 3,000 people across the Austin region.

Jim believes leadership begins with listening. His approach centers on curiosity, challenging the status quo, and building systems where individuals can thrive, grow, and redefine what is possible.

Meg Morreale

Chief Financial Officer

Meg Morreale, CPA, CFO, most recently served as the Vice President of Finance and Accounting for Baylor Scott and White Health, the largest non-profit health system in the state of Texas. She was an integral part of Baylor’s 2019 First Care Health Plan acquisition, streamlining the accounting, finance, and operational teams to achieve $50M in synergies. Meg also led the effort to produce financial dashboards for the Executive team, to achieve real time financial metric reporting through Power BI.

As a leader, Meg takes an entrepreneurial approach developing and implementing forecasting, budgeting, and month end reporting models to improve efficiencies and productivity.  In her 25+ years of accounting and finance experience, Meg has held progressive positions in engineering services, consumer products, a medical device start-up and healthcare. 

She holds a BS in Industrial Management from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University and is a registered CPA in the state of Texas.

Meg enjoys spending time with her husband, John, their three children and their dog Pandora. 

Al Perales

Chief Operations Officer

Al Perales serves as Chief Operating Officer at Austin Lighthouse, where he leads operations, innovation, and growth initiatives that support the organization’s mission.

With a background in technology and large-scale operations, Al has spent his career building high-performing teams and bringing new products and services to market. At Austin Lighthouse, he has focused on expanding the organization’s commercial reach and creating more employment opportunities.

One milestone that stands out is leading the development of Austin Lighthouse’s first commercial product line, a moment that expanded both the organization’s market presence and employment opportunities.

Al believes great organizations are built by great teams. His leadership philosophy centers on respect for the individual and empowering people to do their best work.

Annabeth Adame

VP of Human Resources

Beth Adame serves as Vice President of Human Resources at Austin Lighthouse, where she leads the people systems and culture that help employees grow and succeed.

Her passion comes from ensuring every person has a real opportunity to succeed. Beth believes the right systems and support can transform someone’s career and life.

With expertise in compensation, compliance, and HR operations, she works to create a workplace where employees are treated with fairness, respect, and consistency. Guided by the organization’s LIGHT values—Leadership, Integrity, Growth & Innovation, Heart, and Teamwork—Beth focuses on building trust and ensuring every employee feels valued.

Vince Boyd

VP of Mission Services

Vince Boyd serves as Vice President of Mission Services at Austin Lighthouse and brings more than 40 years of experience in rehabilitation, workforce development, and disability services.

A licensed social worker, Vince has spent his career helping individuals with disabilities access training, resources, and meaningful employment opportunities. His passion is deeply personal, shaped in part by growing up with a blind family member and seeing firsthand the importance of independence and opportunity.

At Austin Lighthouse, Vince designs programs that expand training, services, and long-term support for individuals with visual impairments. His leadership is guided by integrity, inclusion, and open communication—values he believes are essential to improving lives and strengthening communities.

Cara Magrane

VP of Strategic Planning & Community Impact

Cara Magrane serves as Vice President of Strategic Planning & Community Impact at Austin Lighthouse and brings more than 30 years of executive leadership experience across Texas’ nonprofit and human services sector.

Her approach to leadership is shaped by her roots in a hardworking, immigrant community where values of family, faith, and perseverance were central. That foundation continues to guide her work today, along with a deep commitment to service that began when she came to Texas for a year of volunteer work after college—and stayed.

Cara is known for her systems-level thinking and ability to bring people, programs, and partners into alignment. She has led strategic planning, cross-sector collaborations, and operational improvements that strengthen organizations and expand impact. At Austin Lighthouse, she focuses on building sustainable programs and partnerships that improve quality of life and expand opportunities for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Cara leads with curiosity, accountability, and respect. She describes herself as a “multiplier”—someone who brings people together, asks the right questions, and builds conditions where individuals and organizations can grow.

Jacob Guzman

VP of Logistics, 3PL

Jacob Guzman serves as Vice President of Logistics at Austin Lighthouse and has been part of the organization’s growth for nearly three decades. He leads the organization’s third-party logistics operations — known as 3PL — through which Austin Lighthouse partners with businesses to manage warehousing, order fulfillment, inventory, and shipping. For those partners, it means reliable, scalable logistics support. For Austin Lighthouse, it means more jobs and greater opportunity for Texans who are blind or visually impaired.

His connection to the mission is deeply personal. Growing up with family members who are blind or visually impaired, including his father, Jacob saw firsthand the barriers people face when opportunities are limited. That experience drives everything he does.

Since joining Austin Lighthouse in 1998, Jacob has helped lead the steady growth of the organization’s logistics operations. A defining milestone came in 2017 when Austin Lighthouse made a bold strategic decision: building a single 450,000-square-foot facility to unite its Lighthouse and 3PL operations under one roof. Jacob led the seamless transition of three separate facilities into that space — keeping operations running without interruption — and contributed directly to the design of a warehouse built with safety and accessibility at the forefront. The result: dramatically expanded capacity for partners and dramatically expanded opportunity for people with vision loss.

Jacob believes trust is the foundation of strong leadership. He works to build lasting relationships with his team and external partners alike — relationships grounded in reliability, accountability, and shared purpose.

Brendan Power

VP of Operations

Brendan Power serves as Vice President of Operations at Austin Lighthouse, providing executive-level leadership across the organization’s manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics functions. Leading a team of approximately 240 employees, he oversees the operations that power Austin Lighthouse’s government contracts and mission-driven work — ensuring every function runs safely, efficiently, and in alignment with the organization’s commitment to creating careers for Texans who are blind or visually impaired.

Brendan brings more than two decades of experience in aerospace defense manufacturing and operations management, including advanced Lean Six Sigma training that informs his approach to continuous improvement and performance excellence. Since joining Austin Lighthouse in 2019, he has focused on building the systems, teams, and processes that allow operations to grow — translating directly into more jobs and greater independence for the people Austin Lighthouse employs.

Brendan leads with empathy, trust, and respect — believing that strong operations should not only run efficiently but also create inclusive environments where every employee can grow and succeed. He’s motivated by watching people grow, seeing programs expand, and knowing that better operations mean more opportunity for the people who work alongside him.