ICM Staff

Ann Yates is a New Zealand midwife appointed in 2017 as Lead Midwife Advisor at the International Confederation of Midwives. Her experience spans over 40 years and several countries in clinical and senior leadership roles in high and low income countries and communities. Prior to her current role, Ann worked clinically and as a midwifery lecturer in Papua New Guinea. This 4-year government led maternal, newborn, child health initiative resulted in improved quality and quantity of midwives in PNG. As a former President of the New Zealand College of Midwives, Ann supported PNG midwives to strengthen the Midwives Association to represent midwives at a national level.  Ann is passionate about respectful maternity care and access for all childbearing women to the care of a midwife. 

Ann is currently based in The Hague in the Netherlands. 

Faridah is an advocate and communicator for sexual and reproductive health with over 15 years of experience. She has worked with a range of stakeholders across the sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (SRMNCAH) continuum. Faridah has coordinated multi-country campaigns, demonstrated advocacy successes resulting in policy change, and built multi-sectorial partnerships at various levels.

As an advocate for midwives and midwifery, and the key role health workers and their associations play to improve health outcomes for women and newborns, Faridah is privileged to be working on these issues from a supply-side perspective, having initially advocated for SRMNCAH from the demand-side.

Faridah joined ICM in April 2021. Prior to her current role, she worked on advocacy and social accountability issues for SRMNCAH, supporting national alliances in Africa and Asia. She is a member of the Coalition Steering Committee of the Self-care Trailblazers Group.

Faridah holds a Bachelor of Mass Communication degree, a Master of Business Administration and served as a Fellow with the MakSPH-CDC HIV/AIDS Fellowship Programme at the School of Public Health.

Faridah is currently based in Uganda. 

Justine joined ICM in July 2021 as Operational Support Coordinator. She holds a Master's degree in Applied Languages English & German, specialised in European and Regional Development. She has experience in project support, translation and event coordination that she gathered thanks to various roles in the United Kingdom, Germany and France. She is driven by social justice, equity and sustainability and is thrilled to be working for the ICM that strives for equal access to midwifery care around the world.

Justine is currently based in the Netherlands. 

Martha joined ICM in 2012 as Project Coordinator and now works as a Midwife Advisor. She is currently based in Blantyre, Malawi where she supports coordination of ICM’s 50,000 Happy Birthdays Project and coordinates the Midwife Kit Project. She is a midwife and holds a master’s degree in Reproductive Health and Family Planning Management. Before coming to work with ICM, Martha worked in Malawi, Ethiopia, and Liberia where she managed various maternal and child health programmes, including health systems strengthening.    

As a communications professional, Molly has worked across many marketing sectors for both small and international organisations. She has a diploma in public relations from Red River College and a degree in communications from the University of Winnipeg. In 2019, Molly moved to East Africa to work for the Tanzania Midwives Association. From there, she developed a passion for advocating for midwives and their life-saving work. She is thrilled to be a part of the ICM and to have the opportunity to promote midwives and midwifery on a global scale.

Molly is currently based in Canada.

Sally is a New Zealander who arrived in the Netherlands in January 2017 to take up the role of Chief Executive at ICM. Before that, she had a 35-year career spanning all aspects of midwifery – practice, education, regulation, professionalism and politics including roles as President of the New Zealand College of Midwives, inaugural Chair of the Midwifery Council of New Zealand, and Head of Midwifery, Professor of Midwifery, and Director of Learning and Teaching at Otago Polytechnic. Sally holds various academic qualifications including a Doctorate in Midwifery and has authored numerous papers and books including co-editing an Australasian Midwifery Textbook (now in its 4th edition). Sally is passionate about midwives and midwifery and believes strong midwives’ associations can incite changes in their countries to ensure strong midwifery professions and midwife-led continuity of care services for women and their families. In 2008 she was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to midwifery and women’s health. She is married to Michael Lucas, and the couple have two adult sons, Oscar and Felix.

Sigrid works as the Governance & HR Manager and has worked with ICM since October 2018. She has a degree in Human Resource Management and has also studied communications, leadership and gender studies. Prior to ICM, she worked in project support and administration at Uppsala University and The Armed Forces in Sweden. After living three years in The Netherlands and working at the ICM Head Office in The Hague, Sigrid returned to her home country Sweden in early 2021 and now works from there.

Before joining the International Confederation of Midwives, Sultan spent over 20 years generating revenue, increasing support bases and driving strategic organisational growth for non-profit organisations in the USA, UK and Europe, within a broad range of industries and causes. 

Sultan brings an in-depth expertise in marketing, resource mobilisation, business development, private sector partnerships, impact investments and venture philanthropy. He holds an advanced degree in International Development and Non-Profit Management from New York University.

Sultan is currently based in the United Kingdom. 

Shree is ICM's Head or Programmes and Partnerships, she has been working with ICM since 2018. Shree has over 24 years of experience in resource mobilisation, capacity strengthening. partnership building, programme design and management across public, private and NGO sectors. Shree is an Economist by background and lives in the UK.  You can access Shree's LinkedIn profile here: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/shree-mandke-a6281911

Helen heads the Office of the Chief Executive at ICM, overseeing Governance, HR and Organisational Change projects. With a background in management consultancy, marketing, and corporate development, she is experienced in planning and executing strategic projects and managing operations.

She is passionate about ICM’s vision for a world where every childbearing woman has access to a midwife’s care, and the lifesaving impact of fully investing in midwives.

Helen is based in the Netherlands.

As a former journalist, Rebecca applies her love of language and writing to every digital campaign she develops. She is also experienced in strategic communications, public relations and media production and is fluent in English, French and Spanish. Prior to her role at ICM, Rebecca worked in communications at international organisations including the European Union, the International Criminal Court and International Baccalaureate. In her role at ICM, Rebecca enjoys having the opportunity to combine strategy, creativity and diplomacy to develop campaigns that influence policy, governance and public perception in support of women’s sexual and reproductive healthcare and rights. Rebecca is Canadian and currently based in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Erin Ryan is an American midwife working as the Midwife Advisor for Education at the International Confederation of Midwives. For over 20 years, she has been proud to serve birthing families in the US as well as working in multiple global settings as a midwife and educational consultant. She has worked on projects in Indonesia, Philippines, Uganda, Morocco, Bangladesh and Zanzibar. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a bachelor's degree and later with a Master’s Degree in Public Health. Erin sees midwives as the community leaders who will create change one birth while at the same time being the global leaders in equality and anti-oppression. 

Erin is currently based in the United States. 

Mandy is a UK midwife and has diverse experience as clinical midwife in hospital and community settings and in regulation, maternity safety, education, management and research.  Mandy has a recognized teaching qualification and an MA in Midwifery Practice. 

Mandy has worked in Nigeria and Uganda providing technical support to education and twinning programmes.  Mandy’s regulatory experience includes leading the Midwifery Committee that strategically planned midwifery regulation and registration for the Ministry of Health, United Arab Emirates.  She has also worked as a Midwifery Adviser, Nursing and Midwifery Council, UK, where she worked on regulatory standards for the UK and Europe. Mandy is passionate about midwifery and the role of the midwife as the lead facilitator of safe and healthy pregnancy and birth for all women. 

Mandy is currently based in the United Kingdom.

Liselotte is a Dutch midwife working as the Midwife Advisor for Leadership and Association Strengthening at ICM. For over ten years, she has worked in several independent midwifery practices in the Netherlands. Liselotte combines her midwifery experience and anthropological knowledge (MSc) in her work at ICM and she has a passion for working cross-culturally. She has led several twinning projects internationally, having not only seen and developed these projects, but personally experienced how to build strong professional communities through twinning. Prior to her current role at ICM, Liselotte worked as the international policy advisor for the Royal Dutch Organisation of Midwives (KNOV) in the Netherlands. During the 5 years that she worked at KNOV, she collaborated intensively with the international midwifery community which convinced her of the importance of international community building to strengthen midwives globally.

Liselotte is currently based in the Netherlands.

Before joining the International Confederation of Midwives, Nikkie spent almost 20 years working for a European Direct Membership Association, where she gained valuable experience in the day-to-day management of finance, operations, governance, events and team development. As a people person who fully subscribes to the Servant Leadership model, Nikkie has been able to develop long lasting relationships during her career, through her ability to facilitate engagement and two-way communication both internally and externally across various stakeholder groups.

Nikkie is based in the Netherlands. You can find out more about Nikkie via her LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkieyeaman/

Before joining ICM Leefke worked for different professional associations in Germany. She is experienced in membership management, administration, and project support. Leefke has a degree in Area Studies Asia Africa, International Relations and Law and Society. She enjoys working with people striving towards a society based on equity and justice. As a child of a midwife herself, Leefke could not imagine a better place to start this change than one that advocates for women’s access to reproductive health and care for mothers and their babies.

Leefke is currently based in The Hague in the Netherlands.

Enith is an enthusiastic Business Administrator with over 10 years of experience in diverse aspects of administrative and financial management. Prior to her role as Project and Office Administrator, she worked for both, small and global organisations, which gave her the opportunity to learn the strategic processes of every area of an organisation.

She loves to be part of the ICM and to be able to work with an incredible talented team to enhance the reproductive health of women, their newborns and their families.

Enith is from Colombia and currently based in the Netherlands.

Bruna is an experienced publicist in digital communications, copywriting and digital marketing. As the Events and Digital Logistics Coordinator at ICM, Bruna aims to combine her passion for diversity, multiculturalism and feminism with her strategic skills to support women’s sexual and reproductive healthcare and rights.

Bruna is based in Brazil.

Ky joined ICM in June 2022 as Design Lead. Ky is a graphic designer and visual communications strategist with over six years of experience at nonprofit human rights organizations. Prior to their role at ICM, Ky worked as Graphic Designer for the Tahirih Justice Center.

Ky engages with queer, feminist, and emergent strategy frameworks along with the Design Justice Principles throughout their projects, with an eye into how design can propagate narratives that drive us towards collective liberation. They are thrilled to be working with ICM to advocate for midwives at the intersection of gender, health, and economic justice.

Ky is a graduate of the University of Vermont with a B.A. in Political Science and Russian & East European Studies and recently completed coursework within the Communication Design program at the Massachusetts College of Art & Design.

Ky is based in Dublin, Ireland.

Daniela joined ICM as Head of Advocacy and Communications in August 2022. She has a Master’s degree in Maternal and Infant Health from the University of Dundee and an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in European Studies from the University of Toronto. 

Prior to her current role Daniela worked as a Reproductive Rights Programme Lead at Roda – Parents in Action in Croatia, where she worked on quality improvement and research programmes related to respectful maternity care, as well as on advocacy and human rights campaigns. She has collaborated extensively with national, regional and international-level policymakers and human rights bodies on implementing respectful maternity care, and has served on the board of the NGO Human Rights in Childbirth. 

Daniela has led teams to develop innovative educational tools for parents, including two mobile apps financed by European Commission grants – Expecting (for expectant parents) and Growing (for parents of children 0-3), as well as the book Pregnant – Your Guide to the Next Twelve Months (available as a free e-book and audio book). 

Daniela is based on the northern coast of Croatia, where she lives with her partner and three children. 

Sheilah joined ICM in September 2022 after graduating with a Master’s in finance and accounting from the Rotterdam university of applied sciences, she did her Bachelor’s degree from Makerere University and has experience working in finance and operations as well as managing businesses. She is excited to be working at ICM mainly because the values align with her personal values.

Yeiwon joined ICM in October 2022 as a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Coordinator. She has an MSc degree in Public Health for Development from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a BA degree in International Studies from Kyunghee University, South Korea.

Before her current role, she was involved in various health projects in LMICs concerning maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health with multiple international development organizations.

She believes in the value of combining evidence with sound M&E strategies to improve service delivery and build on learnings.

She is currently based in the Netherlands.

Caroline joined the ICM in November 2022 as Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive and President. Previously working for the UK Government in London and Paris, Caroline has held various positions at International Organisations and Courts in The Hague and Amsterdam for the past 15 years, supporting executives and legal staff, and has expertise in information management and archiving.

Caroline supports ICM’s mission to strengthen Midwives' Associations and to advance the profession of midwifery globally.

Caroline is currently based in the Netherlands.