Our Board.
Governance
​SAFER Birth Project is a Community Interest Company (CIC). We’re governed by a Board of Directors with an independent majority, and guided by an Advisory Board of people with expertise in maternity care, trauma and survivor support.
Leadership
Board of Directors
Our directors are responsible for the governance of the CIC, ensuring we stay true to our community purpose and use our funding responsibly. Two of our three directors are independent.
Director
Michaela Kalusová
Michaela Kalusová is a specialist doula, educator and trauma-informed practitioner based in London.
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For fourteen years she has supported women through pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period, working one to one with around 300 women and preparing thousands more for birth through the programmes she has created.
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She holds a Masters in Psychology, studied pre- and perinatal psychology with APPPAH, trained with Dr Michel Odent, and completed When Survivors Give Birth practitioner and educator training with Penny Simkin and Phyllis Klaus.
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In the Czech Republic she founded Ammadula Academy, a doula training school, and an antenatal education company with lecturers working across the country.
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Seeing again and again how earlier sexual trauma shaped women’s experience of birth led her to found SAFER Birth and to develop the S.A.F.E.R. model of trauma-informed maternity care.
Founder and Director
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Director
Aleksandra Nalepa-Fanus
Aleksandra is a senior leader with over fifteen years' experience running and governing service functions in regulated, global organisations.
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She is currently a Senior Director leading Operations and Strategic Execution at a major London-based financial information services group, a global remit focused on making sure strategic priorities are actually delivered. Previously she led the group's EMEA operations, covering service delivery, risk, business continuity, and people services across eleven offices in nine countries.
Her earlier career was in programme leadership, designing governance frameworks and leading large-scale change, integration, and regulatory programmes.
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On the SAFER Birth Project board, she supports governance, operational scaling, and resilience as the CIC grows. She holds an MBA in Organisational Leadership and qualifications in project management (PRINCE2), product management (Pragmatic Institute), and FinTech (MIT).
Independent Director
Director
Aleksandra Otubanjio
Aleksandra is a senior operations and transformation leader with over fifteen years' experience delivering and governing service functions in regulated, global organisations. She currently leads EMEA regional operations for a global financial information services group, with accountability for service delivery, risk, business continuity, and people services across multiple countries.
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Her earlier career was built in programme and project leadership, where she designed governance frameworks and led large-scale change, integration, and regulatory programmes - establishing the controls and reporting mechanisms that allow complex work to be delivered safely and consistently.
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On the SAFER Birth Project board, she supports governance, operational scaling, and organisational resilience - helping ensure the CIC grows on accountable, sustainable foundations. She holds an MBA in Organisational Leadership, alongside professional qualifications in project management (PRINCE2 Practitioner), product management (Pragmatic Institute), and emerging technologies (MIT FinTech).
Independent Director
Guidance
Advisory Board
Our Advisory Board members share their knowledge and experience to help guide SAFER Birth as we grow.
Adviser
Leah Hazard
Leah Hazard has been an NHS midwife since 2013, supporting thousands of women and birthing people on their journey to parenthood.
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She is the bestselling author of The Father’s Home Birth Handbook, Hard Pushed: A Midwife’s Story, Womb: The Inside Story of Where We All Began and Birth Wars: Delivering Safe Maternity In a Changing World.
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A committed advocate for equitable, rights-based care, Leah is a Trustee for Amma Birth Companions and an Ambassador for Birth Companions. She has completed specialist training in counselling skills and Birth Trauma Resolution therapy.
Advisory Board Member
FUNDING
Fund the work
The support SAFER Birth Project CIC provides is free to every woman who needs it. It is made possible by grants, partnerships and commissioning. If you are a funder, an NHS commissioner, or someone who wants to help more women access this support, we would welcome a conversation. Every contribution funds support a woman will never be charged for.
Contact: hello@saferbirthproject.co.uk