Mitch Levinson

Mr. Levinson is a start-up medical device executive with 29 years of experience developing and bringing revolutionary new products to market. Most recently, Mr. Levinson was the start-up President and CEO for Zeltiq Aesthetics, brought in by the investors, Frazier Healthcare Ventures and Advanced Technology Ventures, as the company's first employee. Zeltiq's groundbreaking cooling technology was licensed from Massachusetts General Hospital for non-invasive fat layer reduction. Mr. Levinson built the company from the ground up and launched the product 3 years later, in what has become widely regarded as one of the most successful medical device launches in the aesthetic space. Zeltiq has quickly become the world's premier fat layer reduction technology and is enjoying much success four years after its launch. Zeltiq held its IPO in October of 2011 with a market cap over $400 million. Prior to Zeltiq, Mr. Levinson was the first technical employee at Thermage, where he led the product development as its founding Vice President of Research and Development. Thermage utilizes a radiofrequency-based technology and was the first device to provide non-invasive skin tightening. That company held its IPO in 2006, and has become a mainstay in aesthetic dermatology and cosmetic surgery physician practices. Mr. Levinson was also the founding Vice President of R&D at BioSurgical Corporation, developer of a novel applicator for fibrin sealant, acquired in 2000 by Baxter International. Mr. Levinson has served as a product development executive at Nellcor (patient monitoring), Baxter (in vitro diagnostics), and as an engineer at ALCOA Intercon-X, and Hewlett Packard. Many of Mr. Levinson's innovations are represented in his 31 issued U.S. patents with more pending. He earned his B.S. in Engineering Sciences from University of California at San Diego and also holds an Master’s in Computer Systems.