A Board of Directors serves as the leadership of the Association of Christian Birth Professionals.  Within the Board, directors may also hold office.  The Board, officers, nominations, elections, and other Association matters are governed by the bylaws.

Board Members are committed to:

  • Keeping the Association’s mission at the forefront
  • Steering the organization toward a sustainable future
  • Making decisions as a group of peers

Having an equal vote, equal commitment, and equal responsibility to the Association

Jill Whitfield, RN, CNM, MSN

Jill has served in Women’s Health for over 48 years and has been a Certified Nurse Midwife for the last 17 years. She has cared for women in various settings including the hospital and birth center.  She co-owns, with her husband, “The Midwife’s Mercantile, LLC”, a ministry that provides low cost organic and natural supplements and products to women and their families.  Her greatest love is Christ Jesus and through His love and guidance, she has experienced His miracles.  Jill is married, has had 2 daughters, 2 incredible sons in love and 2 granddaughters.  She loves her Church, her Family, Sailing, Hiking, Traveling and Reading.

Jill serves Chair of the ACBP Board.

Chair – Public Relations and Leadership

The Chair maintains the Association’s public presence and focus on the Association’s mission and values.

Public leadership – One of the Chair’s primary responsibilities is to act as ambassador for the organization: a public leadership figure and voice to Association members, potential members, and other professionals and organizations.  (S)he will establish, and supervise or be a part of, a Marketing/PR/External Affairs committee, and be involved in conference publicity.

Within the organization, the Chair is responsible for organizing and directing Board meetings, getting reports from committees, and facilitating or delegating facilitation of meetings that include the Board and committee(s).

Ireena Keeslar, CPM

Ireena Keeslar CPM, LM, CDEM and a Associates in Science of Midwifery. Ireena worked as an assistant in labor and delivery before becoming a nurse in 1993. She worked in 2 different hospitals in labor and delivery over the years. Teaching both Amish and non-Amish, she taught childbirth classes for over 20 years. Her classes were often attended by up to 25 Amish couples at a time. She has been practicing midwifery for over 21 years in a rural community, mostly with Amish clients. She ‘helped’ start 4 different free standing Birth Centers, 2 still remain open today. She has wrote midwifery articles for several journals, served on several state midwifery boards, and has been involved with conference planning for over 15 years. She has been married since 1980, has 5 children & 5 grandchildren whom she enjoys spending as much time with as she can. In her spare time, she enjoys knitting, sewing, crocheting, photography, gardening, drawing and painting.

Ireena serves as the Vice-Chair of the Board for ACBP.

Vice-Chair – Guidance and Governance:   The Vice-Chair assists the Chair and maintains the Board’s focus on the Association’s mission and values.

The Vice-Chair’s primary responsibility is internal leadership and moderation within the Board, keeping awareness of the “pulse” of the Board. (S)he will also serve in a “chaplaincy” role for the Board and the Association: establishing, communicating with and leading an Association Prayer Team so that the Prayer Team can effectively uphold the Board and the Association.

Chair and Vice Chair duties will be divided this way for the initial Board; each new Chair/Vice-Chair will have the opportunity to divide tasks and duties differently.

Julie Washington

Julie has been serving women and their families for 30 years. She has experience in hospital birth, high risk antepartum and postpartum care as an RN in Upstate New York. In the past She has taught NRP, and AWHONN fetal monitoring courses. For several years in middle management, she also ran a perinatal bereavement committee and founded an evidenced based OB nursing journal club.  After 27 years Julie finally completed her dream of becoming a Certified Nurse Midwife currently practicing women’s primary care and hospital birth.  She joined ACBP to serve and fellowship with fellow Christian birth workers.  Julie loves to share her testimony on how God’s Unfailing Love brought her from a single teenaged mother to a sister in Christ while saving her marriage, life and family.  In her spare time, she enjoys her family, church, camping, fishing and horseback riding.

Secretary

The Secretary performs a variety of tasks aimed at managing the records and administrative functions of the Board and the organization.  His/Her primary tasks are 1.) to establish and maintain a corporate Records Book for the Association, in compliance with the laws of the commonwealth of incorporation and any other applicable state or federal regulations; and 2.) to record and maintain minutes from in-person and remote Board meetings, all meetings involving the Board, as well as a record of motions and voting done via the Board’s private Facebook group.

Pamela Golliet, CPM

Pamela has been involved in many facets of birth work for over 30 years. She’s been an OB nurse, a childbirth educator, a doula, a lactation consultant and a home birth midwife. She’s married to her best friend, Steve, and they have two grown daughters. She has lived all over the world following her family in the United States Air Force. She currently lives in Tucson, Arizona with her husband and two cats. She reads, sews, and has an additional business doing longarm quilting.

Pamela serves as the Treasurer for the Board and ACBP.

Treasurer

The Treasurer performs general oversight and protective management over all aspects of the organization’s finances. His/Her responsibilities include financial management, planning and reporting; budget proposals and management; banking, book-keeping and record-keeping.  Should they become applicable, (s)he would also direct or manage funding, fundraising, sales, and/or management of fixed assets.

Janelle Ribbe, SBD, CBE

Janelle has served women and families in Jesus’ name for over twelve years as a birth doula, childbirth educator, midwife assistant, birth and bereavement doula, postpartum help, and lactation support. Currently, she is managing a small birth and family support company, teaching childbirth classes for an area healthcare system, finishing Lamaze certification, and developing clinical skills in pain management. She enjoys living in beautiful southwest Virginia with husband, David, and their “blended fur family”: Stuart, a Siamese cat, and Trixie and Westley, long-haired miniature dachshunds.

Janelle serves as Parliamentarian and Professional Support Liaison for the Board and ACBP.

The Parlimentarian is the reference person for rules of order and proper procedure within the Board and the organization.  (S)he assists the organization in the drafting and interpretation of bylaws and rules of order, and the planning and conduct of meetings.

(S)he will initiate and guide the preparation of mission and value statements, lead the conceptualization and preparation of foundational positioning and marketing tools and be proactive to protect organizational integrity.

Professional Support Liaison (PSL)  

To advance ACBP’s desire to serve a broad range of Christian birth professionals, the PSL is a non-office role that provides a voice / representation for birth professionals from the smaller constituencies within the field and the Association, such as those who are not primary care providers for labor and delivery, and those who serve families within a different setting from the majority of Association members.