Founders

Nance Dicciani

Nance K. Dicciani is Co-Founder and CEO of RTM Vital Signs, LLC. She is the former President and CEO of Honeywell’s $5 billion Specialty Materials Business Group and held this position from 2001 until her retirement in 2008.

Nance joined Honeywell from Rohm and Haas Company, where she was Business Group Executive of Chemical Specialties and Director of business operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She also headed the Petroleum Chemicals and Monomers businesses worldwide. From 1977 until 2001, Nance worked for Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. where she held positions in engineering, research, and business management.

Nance earned a BS from Villanova University, MS from the University of Virginia, and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in Chemical Engineering. She holds an MBA from Penn’s Wharton School. Nance has been awarded distinguished alumni awards from both Villanova and the University of Virginia.

She currently serves on the boards of directors of Halliburton Company, LyondellBasell N.V., Praxair, Inc., and Rockwood Holdings, Inc. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of Villanova, the Board of the University Research Association in Washington D.C., and the Advisory Board of the Drexel University Center for Corporate Governance.

In 2006, Nance was appointed by President George W. Bush to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and has served on the Boards and Executive Committees of the American Chemistry Council and the Society of Chemical Industry.

Nance has twice been ranked one of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” by Forbes Magazine, and has received numerous other professional honors, most recently The Executive Women of New Jersey’s Policy Makers Award which she received last month. She is also an instrument rated pilot and has been a Special Olympics Coach.

Denise Devine

Denise L. Devine, CPA, MBA, MST, is Co-Founder, CAO, and CFO of RTM Vital Signs, LLC.  She has over twenty-five years of leadership experience in general management, operations, and finance. She has particular expertise in developing technology platforms with resulting commercialized product applications, intellectual property and IP strategy, acquisitions, licensing, joint ventures, and other strategic alliances. Her experience spans from entrepreneurial start-ups to Fortune 100 corporations, international consulting firms, manufacturing operations, and software companies. Ms. Devine is founder of three companies and one not-for-profit organization. As Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nutripharm, Inc., Ms. Devine led the development of a technology platform that generated a portfolio of composition and process patents to create innovative natural food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and nutraceutical products that facilitate optimal nutrition and lifelong health. Ms. Devine has executed strategic alliances and licenses with pharmaceutical and food companies and completed a CRADA with USDA.     

Ms. Devine’s prior business experience includes executive positions at Campbell Soup Company, where she was responsible for executing close to a billion in financings, investment strategy, and structuring and negotiating various capital markets transactions, acquisitions, divestitures, and joint ventures in the food industry; CFO of Energy Solutions International, a global software company serving the oil and gas industry; and Arthur Andersen & Co., where she served as a member of the firm’s closely-held national business team.  

Ms. Devine serves in a leadership role as either an Officer or Committee Chair on the following boards: Fulton Financial Corporation (NASDAQ), Villanova University Board of Trustees, Lourdes Health System, American Red Cross-SEPA, and The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. Ms. Devine is also a passionate children’s nutrition and health advocate. She is Chair of The Advisory Board of the MacDonald Center for Obesity Prevention and Nutrition Education at Villanova University Nursing School and the Advisory Board of the Center for Marketing and Consumer Insight at Villanova School of Business. Ms. Devine was invited to the regional White House Community Leaders Summit and convened a session on coordinating public/private initiatives to combat childhood obesity. Her company is also a Corporate Partner of The Alliance for a Healthier Generation which, in partnership with the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association, is supporting healthier foods in schools.

Ms. Devine has received numerous honors and awards, including the “Best 50 Business Women in Pennsylvania” Governor’s Award, the Philadelphia Business Journal’s “Women of Distinction” Award, the St. Thomas of Villanova Gold Medal Alumnae Award from Villanova University, the Take the Lead Award from the Girl Scouts, and the American Red Cross (SEPA) Chairman’s Award. Ms. Devine has also held numerous professional leadership positions. She served on the American Institute of CPAs Board of Directors, President of the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs, and was appointed by the Governor of Pennsylvania to serve on The State Board of Accountancy, the ethics and licensing board for the 25,000 CPA’s in Pennsylvania; she served for several years as Chair. She was also appointed by the Governor to serve on the Pennsylvania Blue Ribbon Business Tax Policy Reform Commission. Ms. Devine, a co-inventor on nineteen U.S. and international patents, is also Co-Founder of The Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) and has served as an “Entrepreneur in Residence” at The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.

Ms. Devine, a CPA, received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, an MS in Taxation from Villanova University and a BS in Accounting from Villanova University, where she graduated summa cum laude and first in her class.

Dr. Jeff Joseph

Dr. Jeffrey I. Joseph, D.O., is Co-Founder and Chairman of the Scientific/Clinical Advisory Boards of RTM Vital Signs, LLC. Dr. Joseph has over thirty years of experience as a clinical anesthesiologist, researcher, and innovator of medical device technology.  Dr. Joseph is Professor of Anesthesiology and Vice-Chairman of and Director of Research for the Department of Anesthesiology at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Joseph is also Director of the Jefferson Artificial Pancreas Center and Associate Director of the Anesthesiology Program for Translational Research. In addition, Dr. Joseph is an Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Drexel University.  

Dr. Joseph is both an inventor and experienced entrepreneur.  He is a named inventor on numerous patents related to implantable medical devices, biomaterials, vital sign monitoring, and drug delivery systems. Dr. Joseph is a Co-Founder of Animas Corporation, a medical device company that developed a long-term implantable glucose monitoring system and insulin pump leading to a closed-loop artificial pancreas system to help patients manage their diabetes. Animas had a successful Initial Public Offering in 2004 (Nasdaq: PUMP) and was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2005. Dr. Joseph is also a Co-Founder and Chairman of the Scientific/Clinical Advisory Boards of Capillary Biomedical, Inc.

Dr. Joseph has received numerous honors and awards, including the Arthur Tarrow Award for Research Excellence and the Becton Dickinson Career Achievement Award for Medical Device Innovation. He has also served on the Scientific/Medical Advisory Boards of Medtronic Diabetes, Edwards Lifesciences, Becton Dickinson, Echo Therapeutics, and Thermalin Diabetes.  Dr. Joseph is a member of numerous professional and scientific societies, including the Society for Critical Care Medicine, the Society of Physician Inventors, the Diabetes Technology Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Meigs Society.  In addition, Dr. Joseph served as a Board Member and Vice-Chairman of Research for the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI).

Dr. Joseph has served on numerous scientific committees, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Examples of Dr. Joseph’s influential leadership in the areas of medical device innovation include the Oversight Committee of the Philadelphia Pediatric Medical Device Consortium (sponsored by the FDA) and Chairman of the NIH-NIDDK Special Emphasis Panel to Develop New Therapeutics and Monitoring Technologies for Type 1 Diabetes – Towards an Artificial Pancreas. Dr. Joseph has published more than thirty-five research papers in peer reviewed journals related to medical device innovation, including the American Heart Journal, Biomedical Instrumentation and Technology, Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics, International Journal Pharmaceutics, International Journal of Clinical Practice, the Journal of Arthroplasty, and the Annals of Applied Statistics. In addition, Dr. Joseph has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics, Biomedical Instrumentation and Technology, and Medical Device Research Report. Dr. Joseph is routinely invited to lecture both nationally and internationally on medical device innovation, implantation biology, sensors, algorithms, and drug delivery.

Dr. Jeffrey I Joseph has worked at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital for more than thirty years. He received a BS in Biology from Dickinson College (1979) and a DO from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (1983). Dr. Joseph completed an internship and year of general surgery residency at the Metropolitan Hospital in Philadelphia then completed a residency and fellowship in cardiac anesthesiology and research at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (1988).