OUR BOARD
Claudia Wyrick, M.D.
President: Claudia lives in Lakewood, Colorado, with her husband, Danny. She has three grown children, Chris, Lindsay and Clint and three grandchildren, Levi, Case and Audrey. Claudia is a medical doctor who’s a practicing family physician and hospitalist in Denver, but she also holds advanced degrees in special education and fine arts. She became involved with efforts to found International Midwife Assistance while working on her Masters in Fine Arts. During the summer of 2008, Claudia used her medical skills to help IMA's clients. She traveled to Soroti, Uganda, and collaborated with staff at the Teso Safe Motherhood Project (TSMP) for one month. Having already volunteered at community free clinics, House of Hope women’s shelter and a health clinic in Nepal’s Dhading Valley, Claudia is community service minded. “I have always had a desire and felt a responsibility to work with those people who are underserved and who have not had the opportunities I have had in my life.” In addition to practicing as a physician, Claudia is a writer. She has published several poems and is working on a novel.
Jennifer Barr
Board Secretary/Treasurer: Jennifer lives in Snowmass, Colorado, with her husband, three daughters, three cats, and a dog. She is a Certified Professional Midwife. She has volunteered and apprenticed all over the country. Between 1992 and 1994, she worked at Elizabeth House in Washington, D.C., a long-term shelter for homeless, pregnant, Spanish-speaking women. During that time, she also volunteered at the Washington Free Clinic doing HIV pre- and post-test counseling. In 1996, she attended Maternidad La Luz, a birth center in El Paso, Texas, as a midwifery student and apprentice. Currently, she sits on the board of the Pajwell Foundation, in addition to serving as board treasurer for IMA. Jennifer joined IMA while the organization was still in its inception, seeing an opportunity to work for maternal and child health in the developing world. “I believe strongly that health care is a right not a privilege. I uphold the midwifery model of care as the ideal, worldwide for pregnancy. I like to help the organization in whatever fashion is needed – from working on a fundraiser to organizing an evening public talk.” In her off time, Jennifer has been studying the Japanese martial art of Aikido for 14 years and holds the rank of third-degree black belt.
Lauri Hughes, CD (DONA), CLC
Board Member: Lauri is from Seattle, Washington, and after a 12-year stint in the San Francisco Bay Area, she now lives in Boulder, Colorado. She is the mother of three grown sons and a step-daughter. Lauri is the current director of Birth Assistants of Boulder and has worked as a certified doula since 1998 and a lactation counselor since 2005. She is studying and apprenticing to become a Certified Professional Midwife. Lauri is a passionate advocate of women’s healthcare rights and has worked or volunteered in the areas of women’s health since the age of 14. She has been active with Boulder Valley Women’s Health Center, Nurse/Family Partnership & Exempla Lutheran Medical Center in Colorado. In 2006 and 2009 as part of her midwifery training, Lauri attended Casa de Nacimiento, a birth center in El Paso, Texas, where she learned clinical skills and worked with Spanish-speaking women.
Last summer (2010), Lauri had the privilege of visiting The Teso Safe Motherhood Project in Soroti and seeing first hand the dedicated hard work of the local staff there.
Before motherhood, doula work and midwifery, Lauri was an avid traveler and travel agent. From Egypt to India, Costa Rica to the North Pole, and many points in between, Lauri has visited more than 30 countries. She makes a point of using her passport at least once a year.
Kim Hullett
Board Member: Kimberly Hullett owned and operated Essential Control Systems since 1991. Essential Control Systems is a medical device company specializing in women’s health products designed for the treatment of pelvic muscle dysfunction. During her tenure as owner, she conducted teaching and training workshops for health practitioners, set up clinical operations for women’s health programs and serviced patient accounts for ongoing equipment and supply needs. Her commitment to and interest in the field of women’s health motivated her to start the business while in graduate school and allowed her to financially support women’s health organizations like IMA while also providing affordable, non-invasive treatment options for women suffering from incontinence, pelvic prolapse, pelvic pain, gastrointestinal disorders and other dysfunctions related to the pelvic floor. She was awarded Outstanding Contributor in 2009 by the Section on Women’s Health of the American Physical Therapy Association. She recently sold her company to focus on family and self, as well as to take her interest in business and women’s health in another direction. Kimberly has been married to her husband, JK, for 19 years. They have three children ages 10, 11 and 13. She graduated from Kansas State University with an Engineering Degree and from the University of Texas with a Law Degree. She enjoys writing, hiking with her dog, brewing the perfect cup of tea and driving kids to soccer.
Carmela Weber
Board Member: With more than 15 years of nonprofit management and consulting experience, Carmela has provided invaluable guidance to U.S. and international organizations with annual budgets ranging from $100,000 to $200 million. She has led projects in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Central and South Asia, South Pacific, and the CIS. In addition to managing and consulting, she has served as treasurer on several nonprofit boards, founded new organizations, developed programs, raised funds and created systems to support effective program execution. Carmela has special expertise in internal audit, fraud investigation, complex project management, and organizational change management. Carmela is one of IMA's founding members. She has worked in Afghanistan for IMA and helped found our project in Uganda.
Blair Young
Board Member: Blair lives in Lafayette, Colorado with her husband, Dax, and their daughter, Agnes. Blair is thankful for her family and loves to spend time with her daughter and husband, her siblings, her nieces and nephews, her parents and her in-laws- all of whom live close by. Blair loves to read and take lazy walks in the open space behind her house but she is also an avid cyclist and skier.
Currently Blair is the Development Director for Boulder Valley Women's Health Center a non-profit family planning clinic in Boulder, Colorado. For all of Blair's working life she has served in the non-profit sector for programs supporting youth rights and/or meeting the reproductive health needs of the community. Blair believes the ability to control one's fertility is a basic human right, one that determines the quality of life for each individual woman and her family. It is with great humility that Blair does her small part to contribute to a local and global campaign to increase access to reproductive health information and services. By participating on the IMA Board of Directors Blair works to ensure all mothers and babies can benefit from the same resources that she and her family have access to each and every day.
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