Rudy A. Mazzocchi

Rudy A. Mazzocchi

Rudy A. Mazzocchi
Alma mater University of Pittsburgh, UCLA
Occupation CEO of Elenza and Author
Known for Founding Microvena, Vascular Science, CytoGenesis, and Image-Guided Neurologics.
Awards Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year

Rudy A. Mazzocchi is an American entrepreneur and author. In 1989 he founded the firm Microvena, which he built into a company valued at over $170 million. After this he founded and then sold additional companies including Vascular Science, Inc., CytoGenesis, Inc. and Image-Guided Neurologics. He is currently the CEO of Elenza, and in 2012 published the novel Equity of Evil. He is the author of over 50 patents.

Early life

Mazzocchi attended the University of Pittsburgh, graduating with a Bachelor of Sciences in Life Sciences and Biochemistry. He then completed graduate studies in Biophysics at the UCLA School of Mathematical Sciences.[1]

Entrepreneurship

Mazzocchi's first medical start-up was the firm Microvena (stylized as MICROVENA), a producer of medical devices he founded in 1989 as a co-venture with Phillips Plastics. Soon after its founding Microvena began operating independently of Phillips, and within four years had over seven million dollars in annual sales.[2] In 1997 groundwork for a potential Microvena IPO led Piper Jaffray to determine that the value of Microvena was between $170 million to $185 million. That year Mazzocchi received the inaugural "technology leader" award from Minnesota Technology Inc.[3] Mazzocchi remained CEO until 1998,[4] after which Mazzocchi joined a lawsuit launched by minority shareholders against the majority owners for opting against company expansion and growth into new areas.[3]

After leaving Microvena Mazzocchi co-founded the medical company Vascular Science, Inc, where he served on the board of directors.[5] In 1999 the company was sold to St. Jude Medical, in a deal worth $100 million.[6] He next co-founded and served as a director for CytoGenesis, Inc., which was purchased by BresaGen Ltd in 2000, in addition to the companies Quasm Corporation and ReStent Therapeutics, Inc., located in Germany.[5] Mazzocchi next founded Image-Guided Neurologics, serving as CEO and president of the firm[7] until the company was purchased by Medtronic, Inc., a position he held until 2005.[8] In 2004 Mazzocchi was asked to take the chairmanship of the public company BresaGen when it entered financial trouble,[9] a firm which recovered in the following years. Following this he had been chairman and interim CEO of nanotechnology firm Triton BioSystem and then Managing Director for the Atlanta venture capital company Accuitive Medical Ventures.[10] In 2008 Mazzocchi became CEO of NovaVision.[11] Then in 2010 he was named CEO of Elenza (stylized as ELENZA).[12] The company is developing the first auto-focusing intraocular lens replacements for people with cataracts and presbyopia. He was also on the Board of Directors of Greatbatch until March 31, 2014, serving on the Technology Development and Innovation and Corporate Governance and Nominating committees,[13] as well as serving as a Director of NexGen Medical Systems since March 2010.[14]

In 2013 Mazzocchi was named the Entrepreneur of the Year by the Business Intelligence Group.[15]

Books

Mazzocchi published the novel Equity of Evil, a medical thriller based on true events.[16] The book drew off Mazzocchi's experience in medical venture capitalism and was awarded the Global eBook Award for best suspense novel and an eLit award for best suspense/thriller novel.[17] In a 2012 interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Mazzocchi wrote of the prologue that it "is actually a snap-shot of my work experience in a human genetics lab during my college years as a pre-med student. We were forbidden from discussing what happened there behind those closed doors and it took nearly 30 years for me to eventually 'tell the story'".[18] The book itself is about a new method of abortion that resulted in the pirating of intact human fetuses that became a supply of harvested organs that were grown like hydroponic vegetables to supply the multi-billion dollar black market of human organ transplants.[19]

Mazzochi's follow-up novel Equity of Fear was released in 2013 by Twilight Times Books.[20] Broadway World Books stated that Equity of Fear offered "the same suspense, intensity and international intrigue" as the first installment of the series.[21]

In late 2013, Mazzocchi then released his first non-fiction book STORYTELLING - The Indispensable Art of Entrepreneurism, also published by Twilight Times Books.[22]

Patents

Mazzocchi has authored more than 50 patents, including patents in the fields of cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, neurosurgery, ophthalmology and embryonic stem-cell development.[18] For a few brief examples, in 2001 Mazzocchi was a part of the team that patented a new medical grafting apparatus, granted to St. Jude Medical.[23] In 2003 Mazzocchi authored a patent for a method and apparatus for occluding aneurysms, assigned to AGA Medical Corporation.[24] In 2010 he authored patents for a fiducial marker devices, tools, and methods (awarded to Medtronic, Inc.)[25] and a method and device for filtering body fluid (awarded to ev3 Inc).[26] In 2011 Mazzocchi was named as one of the three inventors of a trajectory guide with angled/patterned guide lumens, given to the University of South Florida.[27]

Awards

Mazzocchi among the winners of the 2004 Ernst & Young annual Entrepreneurs of the Years.[28]

References

  1. ↑ "Company Overview of ELENZA, Inc., Executive Profile". Businessweek. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  2. ↑ "MICROVENA ANGEL WINGS ATRIAL SEPTAL DEFECT DEVICE CLINICALS". The Gray Sheet. September 20, 1993. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Boardroom battle shakes Microvena". Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. March 29, 1998. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Microvena ordered to pay Continental $5.9M". Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. March 26, 2000. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "RUDY A. MAZZOCCHI". The Wall Street Transcript. November 5, 2003.
  6. ↑ "St. Jude completes acquisition of Vascular Science". Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. September 27, 1999. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Ev3 nabs $59 million for growth". Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. November 3, 2002. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Medtronic Acquires Image-Guided Neurologics". Advanced Imaging Pro. July 8, 2005. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  9. ↑ "BresaGen suspended from trading". The Sydney Morning Herald. January 21, 2004. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  10. ↑ "NovaVision names new CEO". South Florida Business Journal. June 16, 2008. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  11. ↑ "NovaVision names new CEO". South Florida Business Journal. June 16, 2008. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  12. ↑ "ELENZA Closes $24 Million Series B Financing to Fund". Bloomberg. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Biography: Rudy Mazzocchi". Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Rudy Mazzocchi Appointed as Director of NexGen Medical Systems". March 15, 2010. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Announcing the 2013 Big Awards for Business Winners". Business Intelligence Group. September 25, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
  16. ↑ Rudy Mazzocchi (2012). Equity of Evil. Twilight Times Books. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  17. ↑ Katharine Grayson (November 29, 2012). "Serial med-tech entrepreneur turns thriller author". Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Tracee Gleichner (March 15, 2012). "Interview with Rudy A. Mazzochi, Author of Equity of Evil". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  19. ↑ "Chapter excerpt". Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  20. ↑ Rudy A. Mazzocchi. "Book Excerpt: Equity of Fear". Twilight Times Books. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  21. ↑ "The EQUITY Series of Business/Medical Thrillers by Rudy Mazzocchi, Climb the Charts". BWWBooksWorld. June 4, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
  22. ↑ http://www.twilighttimesbooks.com/Storytelling_ch1.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  23. ↑ Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office: Patents, Volume 1244, Issue 4. U.S. Department of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office. 2001. p. 3891. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  24. ↑ "US Patent #6,506,204". Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  25. ↑ "Patent #7,787,934". August 31, 2010. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  26. ↑ "Patent #7,828,816". November 9, 2010. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  27. ↑ "8/15: Patents". Orlando Sentinel. August 14, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  28. ↑ "Two Central Floridians named Entrepreneur of the Year". Orlando Business Journal. June 25, 2004. Retrieved January 10, 2013.

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