Michael Levinson
Operator & Founder Building with AI in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Michael Levinson is an operator and builder with nearly four decades across hospitality, real estate, technology, and governance. He has a habit of being early — first to online hotel booking in the 1990s, and building with AI now. He brings operator-level judgment and regulator-tested governance to boards, founder-led companies, and organizations navigating AI disruption and growth transitions, and serves as an independent director and strategic advisor.
He most recently served as Board Chair of the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO), a statutory regulator responsible for consumer protection, industry oversight, and an industry-funded compensation framework across 2,400 registered travel businesses. Appointed during the height of COVID-19, he led the board through a governance restructuring, an Auditor General Value-for-Money Audit, the implementation of a new industry funding model, and the launch of a modernized education platform — while reporting directly to the responsible Minister.
His operating background includes opening and running two award-winning Ottawa hotel properties over 30 years, converting distressed and underperforming assets into market-leading businesses before exiting in 2020. In 1996 he conceived and launched BookDirect, one of the first online hotel reservation platforms, scaling it across hundreds of properties and leading the technology company behind it for 18 years.
Today he sits on boards, advises a select group of founders, and keeps building — most recently bringing AI into new ventures. More at YouNeedaStrategy.com.