After graduating cum laude from Kent State University with a Bachelors of Business Administration degree and a major in Marketing, Mr. Likens began his professional career with Johnson & Johnson Corporation. He then spent more than twenty years in domestic and international sales, marketing and general management roles at Baxter Healthcare Corporation, culminating in the position of President, Baxter Biotech North America, followed by President of Baxter’s Renal Division in the U.S.

In July of 2006, Mr. Likens became President and CEO and the second employee of Ulthera, Inc., a venture capital-backed start-up company in energy-based aesthetics in Phoenix, AZ. Beginning with European regulatory clearance in late 2008, followed by FDA clearance in September of 2009, Ulthera has realized net revenue growth from $0.5M in ’08 to over $117M in 2014 and been profitable each year since 2012. After filing for an Initial Public Offering in early 2014, Ulthera attracted interest from several larger companies, and in July of that year, was acquired by Merz Pharma GmbH for $600M, an amount representing 6.6x trailing 12-months’ revenue. The Arizona Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) recognized this as Transaction of the Year for 2014.

Phoenix Business Journal honored Mr. Likens in 2012, naming him one of Arizona’s Most Admired CEOs.

In June of 2015, Ernst & Young presented Mr. Likens with the Entrepreneur of the Year for the Mountain Desert Region Award, which recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance, and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

He has recently been appointed as president and CEO of GT Medical Technologies, seeking to improve the lives of patients with recurrent brain tumors. Over one hundred patients have already been treated with this patent-protected technology and the company is seeking FDA clearance in 2018.