Tim O’Hern Age: 31 Company: Nature’s Grace and Wellness Position: Chief operating officer and general counsel As Illinois lawmakers considered allowing medical marijuana, O’Hern, who remains legally blind, approached his parents about setting up a cultivation facility on their family farm. Nature’s Grace and Wellness soon became the first Illinois facility to distribute medical cannabis to licensed dispensaries and patients in the state. “My background and experience as an attorney, farmer and most importantly as a patient drive the vision and day-to-day decisions I make on behalf of (the business),” O’Hern says. “We are a family owned and operated organization and consider patients to be a part of that family. In other words, our products are produced with the care and attention one would use in preparing medication for a member of their family.” Today, Nature’s Grace is one of the largest producers of medical cannabis in Illinois, but the state program sits on shaky ground with a December 2017 expiration on the horizon. “This industry is not for the faint of heart,” O’Hern says, “but I believe that if we continue to keep patients and our community first, success will follow.”
Tim O’Hern
Just before taking the Illinois bar exam in 2010, Tim O’Hern awoke to a significant loss of eyesight. Shortly thereafter, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a condition that led him to explore the medicinal benefits of cannabis.