Christopher (Chris) Lay is a Co-Founding Partner of Leonid Capital Partners, a private credit firm investing in companies that support critical U.S. national-security and defense-industrial initiatives. Leonid pairs flexible capital solutions with deep government, technical, and operational expertise to help portfolio companies scale responsibly. Prior to co-founding Leonid, Chris was a Partner at BayView Capital and built a career spanning healthcare, technology, and financial services. Earlier in his career, he spent 15 years in academic and applied neuroscience, authoring 22 peer-reviewed publications and earning fellowships from the University of California and the American Heart Association. Chris holds a Ph.D. in Neurobiology, an MBA from USC, and a B.S. in Biology. Through Leonid, he is a founding supporter of the Leonid Sentinel Foundation, which reflects the firm’s commitment to giving back 50% of after-tax profit to support veterans, national-security families, and mission-aligned public-service causes.
