Management Team
Gordie Nye
President and Chief Executive Officer
Gordie Nye has served as Chief Executive Officer of ZELTIQ™ since September 2009. Mr. Nye comes to the company with a 25-year track record of branding, new-product development, and value creation across diverse industries - all of which relates to the company's commercial opportunity. He currently sits on the board of Systagenix Wound Management, Ltd., Aritech, and REVA Medical.
Mr. Nye has served as angel investor, Director, and CEO of REVA Medical, Inc., the developer of a novel bioresorbable coronary stent for the interventional cardiology market. REVA is currently in pre-clinical product development, backed by investors such as Medtronic and Domain Associates.
In 1998, Mr. Nye and colleagues at Group Outcome joined with Liberty Partners to acquire Critikon, the patient-monitoring unit of Johnson & Johnson. He served as President and CEO, and led a comprehensive product line overhaul. GE Medical Systems acquired Critikon in 2000, making Critikon's Dinamap monitors the centerpiece of GE's push into the sub-acute monitoring market. Mr. Nye was also President, CEO, and Director of "A" Company, a premier brand in the orthodontic appliance market, which was later acquired by Sybron Dental Specialties. As with Critikon, he led a full-scale product overhaul which was highlighted by the launch of the Damon SL™, now the leading platform in the category.
Mr. Nye also brings a wealth of experience in the consumer products industry: he has held a variety of marketing, sales, and general management roles for companies including, Gillette, Olin Ski Company, Reebok, and L.A. Gear.
Mr. Nye received his B.A. in English (Magna Cum Laude) and an M.B.A. in Marketing and General Management, both from Dartmouth College.
Mitchell E. Levinson
Founder and Chief Scientific Officer
Mitch Levinson, Founder of ZELTIQ, joined the company in September 2005 as President, and served on the board of directors and as President and CEO from August 2006 to September 2009.
Prior to founding ZELTIQ, Mr. Levinson was Vice President of Research for Thermage, Inc., where he led development of the first system for cosmetic tissue tightening. In addition to pioneering the development of Thermage's technology and products, he contributed significantly to intellectual property operations, clinical and regulatory strategy, commercial business development, sales training, and marketing.
Before his work at Thermage, Mr. Levinson served as Vice President of Research and Development of BioSurgical Corporation (acquired by Baxter). He was also Director of Product Development for the Perinatal Division of Nellcor Puritan Bennett, developing fetal pulse oximetry technology. He has held other engineering and management positions with Baxter Healthcare, Alcoa, and Hewlett-Packard, and is the inventor of 29 issued and numerous pending U.S. patents.
Mr. Levinson earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at San Diego and also holds an M.S. in Computer Systems from the University of Phoenix.
John Howe
Chief Financial Officer
John Howe has served as the Chief Financial Officer of ZELTIQ since October 2009. Mr. Howe brings to ZELTIQ 30 years of financial and operational experience within the medical device industry. Most recently Mr. Howe served as President and Chief Executive Officer for Sanarus Medical, Inc., where he developed and sold medical devices for diagnosing and treating breast disease, including a novel cryoablation system for treating benign and malignant breast tumors.
Previously, Mr. Howe served as the Chief Financial Officer for Eunoe, Inc., a company focused on developing a shunting device for treating Alzheimer's disease. Prior to that he served as Chief Financial Officer for Vidamed, Inc., a publicly held company that developed and marketed an RF energy-based device for treating enlarged prostate. Vidamed was sold to Medtronic, Inc. in 2007 for $326 million, more than 23 times current revenues.
Mr. Howe's career includes 12 years with Nellcor Puritan Bennett where he held a variety of financial and operational positions including Vice President of Finance of the $500 million Hospital Division, General Manager of the Service Business, Director of European Finance (expatriate assignment for 3 years in the Netherlands) and as Manufacturing Controller for the company's twin manufacturing plants in San Diego, Calif., and Tijuana, Mexico. Prior to Nellcor, Mr. Howe worked for seven years for IVAC Corporation, then a subsidiary of Ely Lilly, Inc., where he held various financial positions including Corporate Manufacturing Controller.
Mr. Howe received his B.S. in Finance, with honors, from San Diego State University.
John W. Allison, Ph.D.
Vice President of Research, Development and Clinical Affairs
John Allison joined ZELTIQ in February 2007. He was previously Vice President of Research and Development and corporate officer with Accuray Inc., where he was responsible for the design and development of Accuray's CyberKnife, a revolutionary robotic radiosurgery system. While with Accuray, Dr. Allison made significant contributions to treatment delivery, treatment planning, intellectual property, clinical strategy and business-process development.
Prior to Accuray, Dr. Allison served as Vice President of Strategic Planning with Siemens Medical Solutions in their Ultrasound Division where he was responsible for worldwide strategic planning and execution as well as managing a diverse ultrasound product portfolio. Prior to that he held a variety of positions with Acuson Corp. over 13 years including General Manager of Advanced Products, responsible for research portfolio management fueling new product and business opportunities. Dr. Allison has published numerous technical articles in leading medical journals, and is the inventor of 17 issued and 18 pending U.S. patents.
Dr. Allison received his B.S in Electrical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering from Duke University and has a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University.
Rick Poinsett
Vice President of Reliability, Integrity and Supply Chain
As Vice President of Reliability, Integrity and Supply Chain for ZELTIQ, Rick Poinsett leads the company's manufacturing, R&D and quality assurance initiatives. He also manages the execution of global expansion plans to accelerate the growth of the company in the aesthetic device market.
Mr. Poinsett brings over 20 years senior management experience in operations, R&D, quality assurance and regulatory affairs to ZELTIQ, primarily in the medical device sector. He was a driving force at each of the companies for which he has served and has been a leader behind many acquisitions and operational growth strategies that resulted in successful corporate turnarounds. He also has a solid track record working with the FDA to help start-up and high-growth technology organizations attain their goals.
Before joining ZELTIQ, Mr. Poinsett served as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance and Engineering at Greer Laboratories; Vice President, Development, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance for In Sound Medical; and General Manager of REVA Medical. Prior to REVA Medical, he held several senior operations management positions at medical device companies.
Mr. Poinsett holds an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Purdue University.
David Heagy
Vice President of North American Sales
Dave Heagy joined ZELTIQ in March 2008 as Director of Sales and was promoted to Vice President of North American Sales in April 2010. Mr. Heagy brings to the company skill and expertise in developing sales organizations and launching new technologies, which has been instrumental in the development of ZELTIQ's sales strategy. Before joining ZELTIQ, he served as Western Regional Sales Director at Sciton, a manufacturer of aesthetic lasers, where he was part of the leadership team responsible for the successful introduction of three new technologies.
Mr. Heagy has 19 years of extensive experience in medical device sales and sales management, launching the introduction of new technologies in aesthetics, orthopedics, interventional cardiology and laparoscopic surgery at prestigious companies such as Thermage, Oratec, Sulzer Spinetech, Boston Scientific and US Surgical.
Mr. Heagy earned his B.A. in Marketing from the University of Florida.
Liz Panzica Newman
Vice President of Marketing
Liz Newman joined ZELTIQ in September 2009 as Director of Worldwide Marketing, and was soon promoted to Vice President of Marketing in June 2010. Ms. Newman brings to the company a unique expertise in physician awareness and adoption as well as direct-to consumer marketing, both of which have led to her proven track record in the product innovation and commercialization of aesthetic applications. Ms. Newman is responsible for driving company-wide marketing communication efforts as ZELTIQ launches in multiple markets around the world.
Most recently, Ms. Newman served as General Manager for New Product Marketing at Align Technology, Inc., makers of Invisalign. While at Invisalign, she led the inception, development and successful commercialization of Invisalign Teen. Prior to Invisalign, she held various marketing leadership roles at such companies including VNUS, Lumenis and the former Laserscope.
Ms. Newman earned a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and a M.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
