The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation on Monday announced the election of Jim Calbi as chair of its board of directors. Calbi, a board member since 2018, becomes only the seventh chair in the foundation’s 41-year history.
In his role as chair, Calbi will help improve the lives of individuals and families impacted by paralysis by advancing the foundation’s goals to bring new therapies to market while simultaneously providing the paralysis community with resources, education and advocacy support.
Maggie Goldberg, Short Hills-based Reeve Foundation CEO and president, commended Calbi’s dedication to care and cure of spinal cord injury, both essential to the empowerment of individuals living with paralysis to lead healthy and independent lives.
“Our work and research funding continue to change the culture and reality of living with SCI and paralysis,” Goldberg said. “Since joining our board, Jim has played a pivotal role in driving our mission forward. It is with great privilege that the foundation will benefit from his knowledge, leadership and deep commitment to the foundation as board chair.”
In 2017, Calbi’s son was injured in a cycling accident, fracturing his C6 vertebrae, which left him paralyzed from the chest down. Within hours of the accident, Calbi was put in contact with the Reeve Foundation’s National Paralysis Resource Center, connecting with the information specialist team, which helped navigate the “new normal.” It was the Calbi family’s experience following their son’s injury that led them to become deeply involved with the foundation.
Calbi serves as senior vice president, wealth management adviser at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. Born and raised in the Bronx, Calbi graduated from New York’s Pace University with a Bachelor of Business Administration.
“As a family who has personally benefited from the Reeve Foundation’s invaluable support, it is an honor to be appointed chair of the Reeve Foundation board of directors,” Calbi said. “Reeve is embarking on a new era with a completely revived research program — driven by collaboration, tangible results and real-world progress — and the resources from the National Paralysis Resource Center have never been more robust. The work is more than promising, and my son and all those living with SCI and paralysis can lead more independent lives because of the foundation’s strides.”
In addition to serving on the Reeve Foundation board of directors, Calbi also sits on the board of the Rhode Island Chapter of the American Red Cross and is a former member of the Rhode Island Public Television board of directors.
