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. 

Charlotte has a bachelor's degree in International trade, a master's degree in NGO Management and 18 years of experience working for both commercial and non-profit organisations. Her professional strengths are in operational support, strategic planning, relationship building and project coordination. Charlotte is fluent in French, English and Spanish, allowing her to engage with and represent the views of global partners and stakeholders. She also reads and speaks intermediate Dutch. Charlotte has worked at ICM for the past six years. In her current role as Membership Coordinator, she contributes to strengthening more than 140 Midwives Associations in more than 120 countries globally, improving their capacity to advocate for the health of mothers and their babies.

Charlotte 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. 

Florence is an Australian midwife with a passion for international health development. Since 2004 she has supported midwives in clinical practice, midwifery education, research and policy development in low, middle- and high-income countries. She has lived and worked in South East Asia, Western Pacific, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe and Africa and is aware of the diverse contexts in which midwives work globally. Florence has a bachelor's degree in Nursing, Post-Graduate Diploma in Midwifery, Master's degree in International Public Health and a PhD in Midwifery. Florence has been working as a Midwife Advisor at ICM since 2017, providing technical support to the team and manages projects which aim to strengthen Midwives’ Associations and the midwifery workforce.   

Florence is currently based in The Hague in the Netherlands. 

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.

Rachel is the Head of Advocacy and Communications, with over 15 years’ experience working on national and international projects. 

Rachel has been involved in policy formation for global health initiatives in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals, supported in the development of national strategies for Maternal and Child Health in Africa, and delivered global campaigns and advocacy initiatives in the gender and global health space. 

Rachel is an ongoing advocate for flexible working and gender equity in the work place. 

Rachel received her MA in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies from LSE in 2013. She lives in the United Kingdom with her partner and two daughters and loves (the idea of) starting most mornings with a run.  

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

Toochi has been the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Lead at ICM since April 2021. She has over eight years of experience working with UK government-funded projects in sub-Saharan Africa and the UK, developing and leading teams in monitoring, evaluation and learning strategies. Her experience cuts across several thematic areas such as Health, Agriculture, Youth Empowerment and Urban Development. She has a degree in Economics from the American University of Nigeria and the University of Warwick. She is also a Project Management Professional (PMP).  She currently based in the UK.  You can find out more about Toochi on her LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/toochiegbe/

Helen joined ICM in August 2021 as Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive and President. She is experienced in supporting executives and management teams; from managing daily administrative and operational tasks to executing strategic projects. With a background in management consultancy, marketing, and corporate development, Helen enjoys supporting leaders to make change happen.

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 currently 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 Trade 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.