Jeffry Weinhuff

Managing Partner

Visionary Venture Fund

Jeffry Weinhuff is the founder and Managing Partner / Chief Investment Officer of Visionary Venture Fund, one of the most active investors in the eye for both pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Visionary’s unique model of partnering with 90 Key Opinion Leader Eye Care Professionals provides unique insights into clinical benefits of emerging companies as well as creates a strong pipeline of new opportunities. Mr. Weinhuff has been an active participant in the Private Equity and Venture Capital area for over 35 years.  In addition to his role at Visionary, Mr. Weinhuff is the Executive Chairman of Orasis Pharmaceuticals, Board Chairman of Sydnexis Pharmaceuticals, Board Member of Iantrek and Surface Pharmaceuticals, and previously board member for a number of device and pharmaceutical companies focused on the eye.

Daniel Gil, PhD.

Venture Partner

Visionary Venture Fund

Dr. Gil has had a 30+ year career in Pharmaceutical R&D. He is currently CEO of Pelage Pharmaceuticals, which is developing a topical hair growth treatment. As VP, Research Technologies and Portfolio at Allergan, he served as co-chair of the Early Stage Governance Board that oversaw preclinical to early phase 2 clinical development, chaired the Research Portfolio Committee, and directed the Medicinal Chemistry, Biologics and translational pharmacology research groups. His research resulted in 13 drug candidates and he led 8 clinical development projects in the areas of Ophthalmology, Neuroscience and Dermatology. He is an inventor on more than 70 issued US patents and author on 42 peer-reviewed research articles. Dr. Gil has an undergraduate degree in Biology from Harvard University and a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Garrett Hamontree

Principal

Visionary Venture Fund

Garrett Hamontree joined the Visionary Venture Fund in 2017 as an associate where he performs valuation, diligence, and market potential analysis, as well as assisting in negotiating and executing transactions. Prior to joining Visionary, Mr. Hamontree was CEO and President of Bridgemark, a privately held company, where he invested private equity and debt in a variety of private market transactions to grow operations and assets across the United States.  At Bridgemark, Garrett built a team of seasoned subject matter experts from various backgrounds to help source deals and to perform due diligence on potential transactions. Prior to Bridgemark, Mr. Hamontree was a project manager for Chevron leading major capital projects. Mr. Hamontree graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor of Engineering and from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business with an MBA in Finance and Data Science.

Lori-Ann Christie, PhD.

Principal

Visionary Venture Fund

Lori-Ann Christie joined Visionary Venture Fund in 2021 as a Principal where she identifies investment opportunities, conducts due diligence, and provides strategic guidance to companies in the portfolio. Dr. Christie has 20+ years’ experience in academic and industrial discovery research and drug development. Prior to joining Visionary, Dr. Christie was Director, Eye Care Research at Allergan, an AbbVie, Inc. company. In this role, she led a team of scientists focused on establishing preclinical proof of concept for retina disease therapeutics to address both vasculopathies and neurodegeneration. She conducted numerous diligence activities to identify scientifically and commercially viable external assets across multiple treatment modalities, including small molecules, biologics, gene therapies, RNAi and stem cell therapies. Dr. Christie received her Bachelor of Science from McGill University (Montreal, Canada) and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from University of Toronto. She is an expert in preclinical pharmacology and has authored numerous high-impact publications spanning the topics of preclinical models of retinal disease, age-related neurodegeneration, and stem cell therapeutics.