
Fran Smithson, President of ALI, has been in the field or working with visually impaired and hearing impaired individuals for over twenty years. Fran was employed by the Department of Human Resources (Raleigh Lions Clinic for the Blind - Evaluation Unit) and became very passionate in the area of deaf-blind. She trained at the Helen Keller Center in Sands Pointe, New York, and to this day says it was one of the most rewarding experiences she has had in her profession.