How to Start a Birth Center Faculty

Brianna Bennett

Brianna Bennett, MBA

Brianna is an expert in birth center administration and an experienced nonprofit medical manager.  She has served as faculty for AABC for more than 10 years teaching workshops throughout the U.S., consulting with midwives, medical leaders, and entrepreneurs.  She understands all facets of financial management, HR, marketing, program development, and business grit.  Brianna worked for more than 15 years as the business director of the Women's Birth & Wellness Center in Chapel Hill, NC where she has helped the center grow and expand its services to include more than 7,500 clients.  Brianna also helped to kick-start a second birth center in Asheville, NC in 2016.

Amy Johnson-Grass

Amy Johnson-Grass, ND, LN, LM, CPM

Amy is the owner and director of Twin Cities Birth Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is a midwife, naturopathic doctor and licensed nutritionist. She opened the first birth center in the Twin Cities and built the idea of birth centers in Minnesota starting with being instrumental in passing legislation to license birth centers in 2010. She is a past president of AABC.

Aubre Tompkins

Aubre Tompkins, MSN, CNM

Aubre has been immersed in the world of birth centers since 2006. She started as an RN attending birth and as an educator, then became a midwife and the Clinical Director at Mountain Midwifery Center in CO. She was the Director there for 6 years and became an expert in running a center both on the Administrative and Clinical aspects. In 2017, Aubre was an integral part of working with the CO state health department to update and overhaul the state regulations that govern birth centers. She is the Director of Midwifery for Seasons Community Birth Center, which she designed and opened in 2019. She is the current AABC president

Emily Hayes

Emily Hayes, MHA, BSN, RNC-OB/EFM

Emily has been working in women’s services for 23 years at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. She has recently transitioned into a Director of Nursing with responsibilities for maternity services including the Level III Labor and Delivery unit and NICU, Alongside Midwifery Unit (Family Beginnings Birth Center), Postpartum unit, Antepartum/Perinatal Intensive Care unit, Lactation, and Maternal Fetal Medicine. Prior to this transition she held the Nurse Manager role for Labor and Delivery as well as the AMU for 8 years. She also holds the Vice Chair position on the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers board and has been a member since 2018. It is her passion to help advocate for options in maternity services by sharing the history of Family Beginnings, which has been open for 28 years, and supporting others through their process of starting a similar program.