About Us

Board of Directors and Senior Management

The Board of Directors and principal management of ACell is comprised of:

¹James DeFrancesco, Chief Executive Officer and President

In 1987, Mr. DeFrancesco founded Credit Management Solutions, Inc. (CMSI), a financial services technology company, and served as the President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman. CMSI went public in December, 1996 (NASDAQ: CMSI). CMSI was sold to First American Financial Corp (NYSE: FAF) in May, 2001. From 1976 through 1987, Mr. DeFrancesco founded and served as President and Chief Executive Officer of American Financial Corporation (AFC), a private automobile finance/leasing company providing services to over 400 automobile dealers in the Mid-Atlantic region. In 1987, AFC was sold to Perpetual Savings Bank, FSB. Prior to that, Mr. DeFrancesco was in the Cryptographic Communications Systems division of the US Air Force.

¹Ralph Leasure, Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing

Mr. Leasure has been a Sales and Marketing Executive in the medical industry over the last thirty years. During that period, he has worked for C.R. Bard, Precept, Fred Mischler Associates, and was President of Medis, Inc. and Ralph Leasure and Associates, an independent orthopaedic distributor. Mr. Leasure was the recipient of numerous sales awards, including Orthopedic Distributor of the Year and Smith and Nephew Microsurgery Distributor of the Year. He has represented many companies, including Microsurgery, Boehringer, Bionix, Orthocare, and others. Mr. Leasure has a B.S. in Biology from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA

Miles Grody, Senior Vice President, Operations and General Counsel

Mr. Grody has over fifteen years serving in a variety of roles growing start-up and early stage technology companies to maturity. His background includes executive leadership, operational management, in-house legal management, strategic planning, and sales and marketing experience. Before joining ACell, he was the President and CEO of Perceptant Corporation, a banking software company incubated by AVLabs and funded by Austin Ventures. Prior to Perceptant, Mr. Grody served in a variety of executive roles, and as a member of the board of directors, of Credit Management Solutions, Inc. (CMSI). He initially joined CMSI in 1995 as General Counsel, and served a critical role in guiding the company through its initial public offering a year and a half later. In 2001, as President and CEO of CMSI’s principal operating subsidiary, he helped lead the acquisition of CMSI by First American Financial Corporation. Mr. Grody earned his B.A. from Harvard University, and earned his M.Phil and J.D. from Yale University.

Rodney Bosley, Vice President, Business & Market Development

Mr. Bosley has over 23 years experience in the medical device industry holding senior level positions in product development, business development, marketing and sales in both international and domestic markets. Mr. Bosley holds numerous medical device patents and has spent the last several years working in the field of regenerative medicine

Tiffany Karp, Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Finance

Ms. Karp has considerable U.S. and international experience in strategic planning, investment banking, and management consulting in technology related industries. She joined ACell from CrossHill Financial Group and First Annapolis Consulting, where she was involved in strategic advisory services and mergers and acquisitions. Before this, Ms. Karp worked in strategic planning at Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, where she was responsible for business case development and the evaluation of potential strategic partners. Ms. Karp’s international business experience includes working at PriceWaterhouse in London, advising major financial institutions in Mexico & Canada, and advising a large South American energy company on IT oriented initiatives. Ms. Karp received a B.B.A. in International Business from Loyola University in New Orleans, LA and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University.