JoAnn DelMonte is a Midwest transplant who has called Colorado home for 25 years. The nurse executive moved to The Village at Castle Pines a little more than six months ago and loves the variety of wildlife that shares her yard and her friends in the tennis community.

In February, JoAnn will mark 25 years with UCHealth. Her current role is Vice President of Professional Development and Practice, covering 15 UCHealth hospital healthcare systems. Based on the main Anschutz campus in Aurora, JoAnn oversees approximately 500 nurse educators, research personnel, nurse scientists, clinical nurse specialists and other nursing development specialists from Fort Collins to Pueblo.

In her role, JoAnn helps nurses be as competent and successful as they can be. Patient care can be complex and overwhelming, and JoAnn finds pride in helping her teams ensure “nurses have access to tools that help streamline things such as competence management and updating clinical procedures, which allows nurses to spend more time at the bedside with patients and their families.”

What this entails for JoAnn’s typical day is multifaceted, broadly including education, research, mentoring, best-practices, policy development and overseeing a nationally-accredited nurse residency program. In her role, she liaises with CU Denver’s health sciences and the colleges of nursing across the state. She said her days are full of “lots and lots of meetings.” But she also said that she works with amazing people and an organization that is passionate about improving lives.

Attending the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) as an undergraduate, JoAnn knew she wanted a career that helped people but her major was undeclared until she saw students in white uniforms always going into the same building on campus. When she discovered they were nursing students, she knew that was the path for her, too. JoAnn earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in nursing from UNC and Winona State University in Minnesota, respectively. JoAnn is also nationally Board Certified as an Advanced Nurse Executive and a Nursing Professional Development Specialist.

JoAnn has two daughters, who have two children each, giving JoAnn four grandchildren under the age of 5. “They are the absolute joys of my life—I love spending time with my girls and their families!” she added. In addition to tennis, JoAnn’s hobbies include gardening, Pilates, reading, mahjong and traveling.

For most of her career, JoAnn has supported new graduate nurses transitioning to their first professional nursing roles across the country, and her passion for helping others is still a driving force for her today. Earlier this year, she was awarded the 2026 Nursing Impact Award from Vizient, the largest national member-driven healthcare performance improvement company.

“I was honored for the work I’ve done nationally to support new graduate nurses,” JoAnn said of the award. “I love what I do.”

 

By Celeste McNeil; photos courtesy of JoAnn DelMonte