Built for Opportunity: In 20 Years Time

“We’re going to work around challenges or we’re going to bust through them.” – Reinhard Mabry

When current Alphapointe President and CEO, Reinhard Mabry, walked through the doors of Alphapointe in the early summer of 2006, he wasn’t aware of the challenges that lay ahead.

Soon he’d be managing through the global financial crisis of 2008 while also trying to expand the product offerings and employment opportunities at Alphapointe. He also didn’t know that the world would be disrupted again – and quite possibly in an even bigger and longer lasting way – by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through it all, he wanted to ensure the future viability of Alphapointe so that the organization could continue creating jobs, finding new business, developing more products, and expanding services that would help
more people.

In the Beginning

Based on information gathered through the Big Data Project – funded in part by Alphapointe to further the understanding of BVI issues and the development of programs – it was revealed that, state by state, unemployment for people with vision loss ranges from 50 to 70 percent. Many people, in fact, have tried in vain to find work. Yet they are often turned away, ultimately feeling as if they have no choice but to utilize entitlement programs or rely on family members to survive.

“When I started with Alphapointe, I knew it had good bones and a great mission.”

What Reinhard knew was that people who are blind or visually impaired simply needed a chance. And in Alphapointe, he saw a way to make that happen on a larger scale.

“When I started with Alphapointe, I knew it had good bones and a great mission,” he says. “I saw opportunities for growth and wanted to be a part of that. I wanted to create jobs so that people could provide for themselves, sustain themselves, and not have to rely on others or government programs.”

Evolution and Expansion

“Several of the projects that we now have are successful even though we were told they would never work,” Reinhard admits. “I took that as a dare.”

In fact, right now, Alphapointe has three lines of business that were said to be impossible for the organization, including military resale, sewing, and product distribution.

In addition, over the course of the next 20 years:

• Alphapointe would open their Low Vision Clinic in 2010 and, to date, has served over 12,000 patients.
• Alphapointe has acquired other organizations, including New York Industries for the Blind, which saved 200 jobs. That and several other acquisitions and product developments have helped grow the Alphapointe business footprint and resulted in an additional $273 million in revenue to date.  
• We purchased and renovated a property in Queens, New York, and that serves as the base of operations for several important product lines and the employment of nearly 200 people
• Our Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program has served more than 33,000 clients, with as many as 6,000 coming to see us this year. In 2006, the number served was 267.  
• The development of multiple patented, life-saving products have been brought to market and distributed to first responders and military around the world, saving countless lives.

A Legacy of Change

At Alphapointe, we manufacture innovative, high-quality products. Yet we believe our true legacy is the lives that have changed through the work behind those products. For more than two decades, all of that together has opened doors and transformed thousands of futures.

“I’m enthralled by the people in this building,” says Reinhard. “These are people many businesses would overlook, yet here they are, men and women with vision loss operating machines and leading departments. They are living proof that all someone who is blind or visually impaired needs is an opportunity. I’m grateful to be part of how we’ve come together to make change possible.”

That spirit of change extends to the organization as well. “When I arrived,” Reinhard says, “there was already a strong team doing good work. But we needed to be more bold, to prepare for the tidal wave of change that was coming. It took some time but people eventually embraced that and now we face tough challenges with a true can‑do mentality.”

At the end of the day, what Reinhard hopes for most is that “Alphapointe is a place that never has to turn someone away. Whether someone needs a job, services and support to live independently, or the ability to age with dignity at home, that we never have to say no to anyone.”