SARATOGA, Calif.—VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies, based here, announced that ophthalmic industry veteran Wolfgang Tolle will join the company as president and chief executive officer. VisionCare's current CEO, Allen Hill, will turn over duties, effective May 1 and transition to chairman and advisor.

Tolle takes the helm of the company as it accelerates market adoption of its CentraSight treatment program, including its Implantable Miniature Telescope which was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

"Wolfgang's corporate and entrepreneurial successes in the ophthalmology sector as general manager of Alcon Benelux and CEO of Wavelight, coupled with his broad technology and industry experience make him the right executive to lead VisionCare to higher levels of commercial performance and business value," said Hill. "VisionCare's board and management are excited that Wolfgang is taking leadership of the company at this important inflection point for the company."

Tolle is an accomplished and successful executive, entrepreneur and business advisor with over 25 years of experience in the ophthalmology industry, the technology sector and business advisory services. He was most recently president and COO of PostCreator, a Washington-area technology business.

From 2011 to 2014, Tolle was general manager of Alcon Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxemburg), a division of Novartis, where he was responsible for all Alcon product lines including surgical, pharmaceutical, and contact lenses. In this capacity, Tolle guided the integration of Alcon Benelux into Novartis AG, the Swiss multinational that completed its acquisition of Alcon in 2011.

Prior to that, he was CEO of WaveLight Inc. and WaveLight AG/GmbH, a publicly traded German producer of premium refractive ophthalmic lasers acquired by Alcon Inc. Earlier, he was president and CEO of LaunchDreams LLC, a Northern Virginia firm that provides advisory services to U.S. and international technology and related businesses.

VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies is the developer, manufacturer and marketer of the Implantable Miniature Telescope, the only FDA-approved surgical device for end-stage, age-related macular degeneration. The telescope was recently featured in Vision Monday’s Eye2 Zone, an exhibition of new vision technologies at International Vision Expo in New York.