Roseann B. Rosenthal
President and CEO, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania
RoseAnn B. Rosenthal, in 1996, brought to her leadership role at Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern
Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP) 32 years of experience in economic development and a strong belief in the value of forging
alliances to strengthen southeastern Pennsylvania's economy. In addition to significantly enhancing Ben Franklin's
investment, technology transfer, and business service initiatives, her leadership has transformed the organization
into a major catalyst for regional growth and competitiveness through collaborations with business and economic
development partners, research and development facilities, and educational institutions. The Nanotechnology
Institute (NTI), established in 2000 by Ben Franklin, the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, and the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is indicative of this effort. Seeded with $12.8 million from the Commonwealth, it has
attracted funding and support from the National Science Foundation and the U. S. Department of Education and has
leveraged over $90 million of federally-funded research. The NTI has attracted national recognition for its
multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, research to commercialization model. RoseAnn Rosenthal serves on the NTI's
three-person Oversight Committee, co-chairs a regional team that developed the Mid-Atlantic Nanotechnology Alliance,
a multi-state initiative among Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, and serves on the External Advisory Board of
the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) at the University of Pennsylvania. NSEC is funded by the
National Science Foundation.
