Board of Directors

Wendy Gordon, CPM, LM, MPH,President
Wendy is a Certified Professional Midwife and Licensed Midwife in Washington State, with a small birth center practice serving clients in Seattle. She is a 2005 graduate of Seattle Midwifery School and is currently Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Midwifery at Bastyr University. Wendy is a member of the first cohort working toward a Doctorate in Midwifery at the Midwifery Institute at Jefferson University (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson), aiming to graduate in August of 2019. Wendy also serves on various task forces and workgroups for US MERA, NACPM and MEAC. She has a beautiful daughter who was born at home into the hands of midwives.

Courtney Everson, MA, PhD, Co-Vice President
Dr. Courtney Everson holds a PhD in Applied Medical Anthropology with a long track record of community outreach, research, and leadership in education, non-profit management, and health equity. Dr. Everson is currently appointed as core Academic Faculty and the Dean of Graduate Studies at the Midwives College of Utah, as well as the Chair of the Evidence-informed Practice Steering Committee. Dr. Everson holds several leadership positions nationally, including as the Director of Research Education for the MANA Division of Research, the Co-Vice President of the Association of Midwifery Educators, and on the Board of Directors for the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council and the Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health. As a Medical Anthropologist, Dr. Everson's specializations include perinatal health inequities; social justice; culturally safe care; midwifery and doula care models; research and clinical ethics; adolescent pregnancy and parenting; psychosocial stress and social support; evidence-informed practice; interprofessional collaboration; and mixed methodologies. Dr. Everson actively publishes in academic forums, and is an invited, avid speaker at local, national and international venues. Dr. Everson has won multiple awards for teaching, research, and service, including being named “Teacher of the Year” in 2014 for the Midwives College of Utah and receiving the “Our Future, Award of Excellence” from the Oregon Women in Higher Education Consortium. Most recently, Dr. Everson and colleagues received the “Best Research Article” Award from the American College of Nurse Midwives for their 2015 publication on waterbirth in the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health. Dr. Everson is also an anti-racism and anti-oppression trainer, as well as a perinatal health educator, birth doula, and postpartum doula in the Denver-metro area, primarily serving at-risk families and youth.

Justine Clegg, MS, LM, CPM, Co-Secretary
Justine is a Florida homebirth Licensed Midwife, Mental Health Counselor, and Certified Lactation Counselor with 35 years experience in maternal-child health and education. Currently faculty and Academic Director for Commonsense Childbirth School of Midwifery since 2009, Justine started the Midwifery degree program at Miami Dade Community College, served as Midwifery Chair and Professor 1993-2008, and received an Endowed Chair in 2003. She was Council of Licensed Midwifery Chair, Florida midwifery regulatory agency, 1992-2001, Chair of Miami’s Fetal and Infant Mortality Review team, 2004-2008, founding Board member of MEAC and NACPM, and helped create NARM’s certification program. Justine now resides in Asheville, NC where she is NCACPM board secretary and a member of the NC MERA leadership team working toward CPM licensure in North Carolina.

Sharon DeJoy, MPH, PhD, CPH, CPM, LM, Co-Secretary
Sharon DeJoy is a Certified Professional Midwife. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, where she also directs the undergraduate program in public health-health promotion. She has three teenage children, two of whom were born into the hands of midwives.

Claudia Booker, CPM, M.Ed., J.D., CD (DONA and ICTC), CCCE, LLLI BPC
Claudia Booker is a homebirth Certified Professional Midwife licensed in Virginia. She is the owner of Birthing Hands Midwifery and Birth Services, serving the Washington DC metro area. Claudia is a graduate of Northeastern University Law School and also has a Masters degree in Education and a Masters certificate in Public Management. She serves as the consumer member on the DC Infant Mortality Review Committee. She founded one of the first community-based doula programs in the country at DC Family Health & Birth Center, as well as a co-founder of the “Grand Challenge” to provide scholarship access for birth workers of colors. Claudia serves as adjunct faculty at Mercy in Action Midwifery College and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Association of Birth Centers’ 2006 Community Service Award; the International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC)’s 2010 Outstanding Leadership Award; the Birth Matters of Virginia 2015 Advocate of the Year award; and the Human Rights in Childbirth’s 2016 Agent-Provocateur of the Year award. Claudia is licensed to practice in Virginia and Maryland and is on the board of directors of The Elephant Circle.

Staff

Mary Yglesia, Interim Administrative Director
Mary Yglesia is a graduate of the Seattle Midwifery School and practiced midwifery briefly in rural Washington State before returning to the school to serve as an administrator. She was a past Executive Director of SMS and Clinical Education Supervisor of the Department of Midwifery at Bastyr University. Mary has retired from full time administrative work and now serves as the Executive Director for the Methow Valley Interpretive Center in Twisp, WA as well as the Administrative Director for AME while she building her new career as a farmer and cider maker! She is the proud mother of three incredible young women, all born at home into the hands of midwives.