Vista Honors:
Honoring Saqib Shaikh,
Founder of Microsoft Seeing AI
About the Event
Join us for this exclusive in-person celebration and fundraiser supporting Vista Center’s life-changing programs. The Vista Honors Gala will unite Silicon Valley’s accessibility community to celebrate the innovators who changed what’s possible, and those carrying the torch forward to ensure technology continues to empower people with vision loss. Every year, Vista Center restores hope and empowers independence for more than 3,700 youth, working adults, and seniors who are blind or visually impaired.
DATE AND TIME
Tuesday, December 8, 2026
6:00 pm
LOCATION
Stanford Faculty Club
439 Lagunita Dr, Stanford, CA 94305
Directions, Parking and Accessibility information
Hosted cocktail hour and full course-dinner buffet
Sighted-guide for buffet provided upon request.
Honoree:
Saqib Shaikh, Founder of Microsoft Seeing AI
Vista Center is proud to honor Saqib Shaikh at this year’s Vista Honors Gala celebration — for a lifetime of innovation, impact, and an unwavering belief in technology’s power to change lives.
Saqib Shaikh lost his sight at age seven. He attended a school in the UK for children who are blind or have low vision, where he learned self-reliance and found a lasting curiosity about how things work. Ever curious, he found direction at age ten, when a talking computer at school sparked his interest in technology. He went on to earn a degree in Computer Science, graduating top of his class, followed by a Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence.
A software engineer at Microsoft since 2006, Shaikh returned, at a company hackathon, to an idea he’d first dreamed up as a student: camera-equipped glasses that could describe the world to someone who is blind.
That idea became Seeing AI. Working alongside Microsoft Research scientists, Shaikh co-founded and led the project from prototype to public launch in 2017 — an app that narrates text, people, and objects through a phone’s camera, and has been called “life-changing” by the people who rely on it. He has demonstrated his work to the UK Prime Minister and the House of Lords, and the video of the original prototype has been viewed more than three million times.
A recognized leader in his field, Shaikh has been honored by the British Computer Society, which named him Young IT Practitioner of the Year. Seeing AI has also received the Helen Keller Achievement Award from the American Foundation for the Blind. At Microsoft, he continues to lead teams of engineers who blend emerging technology with natural user experiences — work aimed at empowering people with disabilities and building a more inclusive world for all.
Sponsorship & Tickets
Step into an evening of elegance, impact, and intentional celebration. These premier sponsorships offer more than a table, they’re a toast to legacy, leadership, and the luminous work of Vista Center.
Become a $5k Table Sponsor – Includes 10 Tickets to Vista Honors
Sponsorships Options
The table has 1 column with 8 rows of sponsorship benefits, and 5 columns that list Vista Honors sponsorship options ranging from $5,000 to $25,000. Please contact Marlu Treuhaft at mtreuhaft@vistacenter.org or Grace Gervais at ggervais@vistacenter.org for a reading of the sponsorships.
Swipe left to view the entire table| Sponsorship Benefits | $25,000 | $20,000 | $15,000 | $10,000 | $5,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay Now | Pay Now | Pay Now | Pay Now | Pay Now | |
| Recognition as the Presenting Sponsor and the opportunity to make remarks on stage | • | ||||
| Acknowledgment and logo presence in additional Vista Center Events | • | • | |||
| Meet and Greet with Saqib Shaikh, Founder of Microsoft Seeing AI | • | • | |||
| Recognition from the podium during the event by MC | • | • | • | ||
| Opportunity to engage in press coverage | • | • | • | • | |
| Recognition in thank-you message sent to event attendees | • | • | • | • | • |
| Recognition as a sponsor in all promotional materials, including social media | • | • | • | • | • |
| Complimentary tickets for guests | 20 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 10 |
All sponsorships also include:
- Premier table
A beautifully appointed table in a prime location, ideal for hosting colleagues, loved ones, or honored guests. - Hosted cocktail hour
Begin the evening with handcrafted cocktails and warm conversation in a welcoming pre-event reception. - Full course-dinner buffet
Sighted-guide for buffet provided upon request.
Tickets
If you are interested in purchasing individual tickets, please contact Marlu Treuhaft at mtreuhaft@vistacenter.org or Grace Gervais at ggervais@vistacenter.org
Donate
If you are unable to attend Vista Honors, please consider making a donation to support Vista Center’s mission.
Seeing AI: A Visual Assistant for the Blind
Saqib Shaikh, a blind software developer, was instrumental in shaping Seeing AI from inception. His vision, expertise, and lived experience helped create an app that demonstrates what’s possible when technology meets human-centered design. This year, Vista Center honors Saqib for his pioneering work in making technology not just accessible, but transformative.
Seeing AI is a visual assistant app that empowers people who are blind or have low vision to understand their world independently. The app reads text aloud, generates rich descriptions of photos and surrounding environments, identifies products through barcode scanning, recognizes people and their facial expressions, detects currency, and announces colors and light levels—turning a smartphone into a powerful tool for everyday tasks.
Born from personal experience, Seeing AI emerged when a dedicated Microsoft team recognized that breakthroughs in computer vision and vision-to-language technology could solve real accessibility challenges. The team spent substantial time understanding what the visually impaired community needed, identifying three core scenarios: mapping and navigating indoor spaces with only a camera, asking questions about text and objects in the physical world, and describing surroundings.
Launched in 2017, Seeing AI has assisted users with over 3 million tasks and earned the prestigious Helen Keller Achievement Award from the American Foundation for the Blind.
But the true measure of its impact is in the stories of those who use it daily—and those who helped build it.
Contact Us
For additional ticketing and sponsorship information, please contact Marlu Treuhaft at mtreuhaft@vistacenter.org or Grace Gervais at ggervais@vistacenter.org
We’ll have volunteers on site to provide sighted-guide and general assistance if needed. If you require any additional accommodations to make your experience more enjoyable, please let us know.
Important: Event Information
Stanford Faculty Club Entrance
Please Use the Stanford Faculty Club’s Front Entrance on 439 Lagunita Drive, Stanford, CA 94305. Gala check-in is located directly down the staircase or the elevator inside the front entrance.
Accessibility
Main entrance
On 439 Lagunita Drive: small staircase and ramp entrance.
Inside the front entrance
Staircase and elevator to go downstairs to gala check-in.
On-site Volunteers
We’ll have volunteers on site to provide sighted-guide and general assistance if needed. If you require any additional accommodation to make your experience more enjoyable, please let us know.
Rideshare
We encourage those who are able to, to use rideshare drop-off and pick-up to the front entrance address on 439 Lagunita Drive, Stanford, CA 94305
Parking
Important note: Parking may be limited due to other campus events taking place that evening.
Locations
There is a lot across the street from the Faculty Club, located at:
450 Serra Mall Parking, 524 Lagunita Dr, Stanford, CA 94305
Tresidder Parking Lot is down the street from the Faculty Club, located at
436 Mayfield Ave, Stanford, CA 94305
Parking Costs & Information
Parking cost: $4.46 per hour or $35.68 per day
Payment: ParkMobile app or pay station (where available)
Parking enforcement: Monday–Friday, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm
Please check posted parking signs for any lot-specific restrictions.
Additional Parking
Additional parking is available approximately a 5-minute walk away at 424 Santa Teresa Street, Stanford, CA 94305.
From there, please make your way to the Stanford Faculty Club and enter through the front doors at 439 Lagunita Drive.
Restrooms
Restrooms are available on the first floor. First floor restrooms are wheelchair accessible.