Meet the Visionary Team

GP & Investment Committee

We are a team of investors with success as investors, operators, and entrepreneurs, with a disciplined investment approach to identify and develop promising companies to maximize investor returns

We know what it takes to bring a product to market and make it a winner.

Managing Partner

Visionary Venture Fund

Jeffry Weinhuff is the managing partner of Visionary Venture Fund, a later-stage venture fund  focused on investing in drugs and devices for the eye. Visionary employs a unique approach to venture investing  by partnering with over 75 Key Opinion Leader Ophthalmologists, as well as other sophisticated investors and industry professionals. In Visionary’s eleven portfolio companies, the combination of KOL insights and professional investment approach reduces risk and enhances predictable returns. Visionary works closely with senior eye care professionals in the fast-growing 40 Billion ophthalmology industry located in Orange County, Ca, the global headquarters of the industry.

Mr. Weinhuff has been active in the private equity  realm for over 30 years.  At Jefferies & Co.,  the premier mid-market investment bank, he founded the Investment Banking and Capital Markets groups, served  as Head of Investment Banking,  was a Member of the Board of Directors, and Head of the Commitment Committee. Prior to Jefferies he  was a Partner at Drexel Burnham Lambert, where he founded and co-headed the Buyer Advisory Group  and served on the Underwriting committee.

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.

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.

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.