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Michael D. Lesh, MD, Founder, Chairman and CEO
Michael D. Lesh, MD, Founder, Chairman and CEO, is a physician, scientist and entrepreneur. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science and bioengineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before entering medical school at the University of California San Francisco. After completing internal medicine training at UCSF and cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, he joined the faculty at UCSF, where he was Chief of Cardiac Electrophysiology. Dr. Lesh's research spanned a wide range from bench to bedside. He pioneered a number of procedures for catheter ablation of cardiac arrhythmias, and is the author of over 300 scientific papers, book chapters and books. Dr. Lesh holds over 100 patents issued or pending.
Since 1997, Dr. Lesh has founded three successful medical device companies based on his inventions. Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) acquired his first venture, Atrionix, developer of a novel ultrasound ablation catheter for atrial fibrillation. Dr. Lesh founded and was Chairman and CEO of Mitralife, which developed a catheter-based treatment for mitral valve disease and CHF; and Appriva, which developed PLAATO, a percutaneous trans-catheter device for preventing stroke. Mitralife and Appriva were acquired by ev3, Inc.
With Evera, Dr. Lesh has taken advanced technology available from cardiovascular device engineering and applied to devices for aesthetic enhancement.
Randy J. Kesten, Evera Medical's Chief Technical Officer
Randy J. Kesten, Evera Medical's Chief Technical Officer, is a seasoned medical device executive with broad and deep experience in both start-ups and later stage enterprises. Most recently, he was VP of Research and Development and Operations at Guidant Cardiac Surgery where he led a group that developed and launched a dozen new products. Prior to that, he was CEO of Libra Medical, a company developing technology to prevent kidney failure. In 1993, he was one of the founders of CardioGenesis, the pioneer in laser myocardial revascularization. Mr. Kesten was VP of Research and Development at the time of Cardiogenesis's successful IPO and subsequent merger with Eclipse. Prior to that, Mr. Kesten had positions of increasing responsibilities at Advanced Cardiovascular Systems and Progressive Angioplasty Systems.
Mr. Kesten holds 21 issued US Patents. He graduated cum laude from the State University of New York and studied bioengineering at UC San Diego.
Stewart Kume, Co-founder and Sr. Director of Research and Development
Stewart Kume, Co-founder and Sr. Director of Research and Development is a biomedical engineer with over 15 years of experience developing innovative minimally invasive products for the medical device industry. Working for both multi-billion dollar organizations and start-up companies, Mr. Kume has established a strong track record as a hands-on technical leader, guiding projects from concept to market release. Prior to Evera, Mr. Kume held leadership positions in R&D and Clinical Engineering at Appriva Medical, which was acquired by ev3, Inc. Mr. Kume has also served as R&D Program Manager for CardioGenesis Corporation, and Senior R&D Engineer for Boston Scientific Corporation.
Mr. Kume obtained his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles and an MS in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University. Mr. Kume currently holds 12 issued US Patents, with a number of additional patents pending.
Jay Shukert, Chief Financial Officer
Jay Shukert, Chief Financial Officer, has been a consulting CFO to medical device and biotechnology companies for more than 15 years. His work focuses on companies in the development and early commercialization phases. His clients have included Millennium Pharmaceuticals, IDUN Pharmaceuticals, Prograft Medical, Coalescent Surgical, and Appriva Medical.
Prior to his work as a consulting CFO, Mr. Shukert was Vice President, Finance at CV Therapeutics and Controller at Neurex Corporation. Prior to those, he held various financial positions at Genentech and was a manager in the consulting practice at Arthur Andersen & Co. Mr. Shukert received an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley and a BS from the University of Pennsylvania.
Deborah Marshall, Corporate Counsel
Deborah Marshall, Corporate Counsel, serves as Evera Medical’s corporate counsel from the prestigious firm of Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin, where she directs the firm's Business Department. She concentrates her practice on business counseling for emerging growth technology companies, life sciences companies, venture funds and technology-based, multinational corporations and has represented technology and life science companies at all stages of development, from entrepreneurs to publicly traded entities.
Prior to joining Howard Rice, Ms. Marshall was a partner at Cooley Godward where she served as Chair of the firm's Business Department.
Gerard von Hoffmann, III, Intellectual Property Counsel
Gerard von Hoffmann, III, Intellectual Property Counsel,
is a partner at the premier firm of Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear. His clients represent a broad range of biomedical applications. Mr. von Hoffmann graduated cum laude from University of San Diego School of Law and has a degree in chemistry from Occidental College. He clerked for the Honorable Helen W. Nies, Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Mr. von Hoffmann has also served on the Board of Directors of CardioVascular Dynamics, Inc., Radiance Medical Systems, Inc., Triage Medical, Inc., and NeoMatrix, LLC.
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