Adam Winder, MBA, is the President of SeedTrust, Orchid Software Solutions, and SeedCoach.  Adam is passionate about giving back and is grateful to have the opportunity to help people build their families. Before joining the ART industry, Adam's experience includes ten years in financial services as a banker and leading strategy for a large division of a major bank. He currently also serves on the board and as the CFO of Making the Grade – Hope for African Youth.

Sunday Crider, PhD, HCLD/ELD (ABB)is the owner of The Surrogacy Consultant, a surrogacy and consulting firm. As a former embryologist and lab director of several IVF labs, as well as the founder of a nonprofit that addresses rural food insecurity, Sunday's experience brings a knowledge of the infertility industry with a love of helping people.

Ellie Javadi received both her J.D. and Bachelors of Science from UCLA. Upon graduating law school, Ellie litigated at a complex, multi-party plaintiffs firm in Los Angeles for over five years prior to starting her own practice. After going through years of IVF to eventually have her first child, Ellie developed a deep passion for helping people achieve their dreams of becoming parents. She eventually left the corporate world and opened her own practice dedicated to Assisted Reproductive Law in 2009.Today, she provides legal support to Intended Parents, Surrogates, and Donors. Ellie is the co-chair of the Legal Ethics Committee of SEEDS, as well as a Fellow of the Academy of California AdoptionAttorneys/Academy of California family Formation Lawyers (“ACAL/ACFFL”), and ASRM.

Sam Hyde, MBA, is the President of Circle Surrogacy &Egg Donation. Having experienced fertility challenges when starting his own family, Sam understands firsthand the importance of support and help to fulfill dreams of parenthood. Sam and his wife are now blessed with two beautiful daughters and a son with the help of IVF. Prior to joining Circle, Sam spent ten years advising and building a variety of businesses.

Lisa Stark Hughes is the president of GSMoms. She has 6 children and two grandchildren. Lisa has been a surrogate twice, carrying twins first and then carrying a singleton.  

Lisa has worked on several non-profits and co-ops during their creation or in the early stages, including CSWS Waldorf School, The Placerville Natural Foods Co-Op, the EDC inter-religious emergency preparedness Council. Lisa’s parents cared for medically fragile foster children for over thirty years giving her a unique perspective on the foster system, legal structure, medicine, and healthcare

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Lisa Chiya is one of the original SEEDS founding members and also the President and founder of The Genesis Group, an Egg Donation and Surrogacy Agency. Lisa obtained her bachelor’s degree from UCLA. She has over 15 years of third-party reproductive management experience. After struggling to conceive for many years, she is now the proud parent to three beautiful children via IVF and surrogacy. She believes that it is her duty to give back to the community that has blessed her with 3 little miracles. Lisa also serves as a mentor and a board member of Ambition, which is a non-profit school-based entrepreneurial program for disadvantaged youths.

Wendie Wilson-Miller is an original SEEDS founding member and has been working in the field of assisted reproduction for over 20 years. In addition to being the President of two agencies, Gifted Journeys located in Los Angeles, Ca., and All Families Surrogacy in Portland, Or.,Wendie co-wrote “The Insiders Guide to Egg Donation: A Compassionate and Comprehensive Guide for All Parents-to-be,” which won a Gold Medal Ben Franklin award in 2013 for its LGBT chapter. She has dedicated her life to the field of assisted reproduction and various humanitarian efforts.

STEVEN SNYDER

Steven Snyder is the owner and director of IARC Surrogacy and Steven H. Snyder and Associates Law Firm. He has been a leader in the surrogacy community for more than three decades and has been practicing as an attorney since 1982. He works daily to make surrogacy and other family-building options available to as many aspiring parents around the world as possible. He also advocates to ensure these family-building options are safe and ethical for all parties. Steve is active in numerous professional organizations, including the Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy (SEEDS), RESOLVE, the National Infertility Association, the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, and the American Bar Association Assisted Reproductive Technology Committee. He devotes much of his time to writing articles, contributing to various media interviews and publications, and advocating at various local, national, land international forums as an expert in assisted reproduction and on behalf of those families who need surrogacy and other third-party options to have a family. The most important thing in life for Steve is his family and enjoying his four grandchildren.

KATY ENCALADE

Katy Encalade has a true passion for helping intended parents create their families through egg donation and surrogacy. She is the Executive Director at Egg Donor & Surrogate Solutions. Her personal experience as an Egg Donor and Gestational Carrier and the relationships built through that, encourage her to continue in her passion for supporting Intended Parents, Egg Donors, Gestational Carriers, and the Donor-Conceived people that are involved in this amazing way of creating families. Katy believes SEEDS work is critical to the industry and is committed to working with colleagues in the industry to educate and support best practices that positively serve all parties. Katy earned her bachelor's degree in business and psychology from Dallas Baptist University. She lives in Prosper, Texas, with her husband, Blake, and three children.

JOHN WELTMAN

John Weltman was educated at Yale, Oxford and the University of Virginia, from which he has his BA, MA and JD. He is the Founder and former President of Circle Surrogacy, one of the first and now largest surrogate parenting agencies in the world. A practicing lawyer for 37 years, admitted in Massachusetts, New York and California, John established Circle in October 1995 three months after the birth of his younger son through traditional surrogacy. He and his husband were the first American gay couple to each have a child through the same surrogate mom.

John has been working in the surrogacy field for 30 years and has always cared most deeply about the best interests of the children, surrogate, donor and intended parent and has established parameters in his agency to make sure that the highest ethical standards are maintained. He has a passion for SEEDS and its mission and has spoken all over the world on topics such as the careful screening of surrogates, the importance of considering known egg donation, how to obtain insurance to cover surrogates and the children born to them for domestic and international intended parents and many other related topics. John is a member of the ABA, and his law partner Dean Hutchison is the head of the ART subsection of the Family Law section of that ABA. He is also a member of ASRM.