Gayle Riedmann (she/her) graduated from University of California – San Francisco/University of California – San Diego Intercampus Graduate Studies with a Masters degree in 1986 and practiced at University of California San Diego prior to moving to Chicago in 1987. She started the first full-scope Nurse-Midwifery practice at Northwestern Memorial/Prentice Women’s Hospital and practiced there until 1993.

Gayle founded her private midwifery practice West Suburban Midwife Associates (WSMA) in 2000. WSMA continues to be one of the few CNM-owned midwifery practices in the state.

Gayle is past President of the Illinois Affiliate of the American College of Nurse Midwives and is co-chair of Health & Medicine’s Illinois Birth Center Task Force. Acting on her passion for birth options, she campaigned for over 25 years to pass a legislative bill to establish freestanding birth centers in Illinois. The legislation was signed into law in 2007, with legislative updates passing again in 2021.

Gayle is past recipient of the ACNM Foundation Leadership Award, the Joyce Roberts Award for Excellence in Midwifery, and the Marie Lindsey Spirit of Advanced Practice Nursing Award. She was appointed by the Governor and served on the Board of Nursing for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to represent Advanced Practice Nurses/ Certified Nurse-Midwives for the State of Illinois from 2009-2016.

She has published several professional articles, chapters for Nursing textbooks, and two chapters for the Global Library of Women’s Medicine: Education for Childbirth and Preparation for Parenthood. She currently serves on I PROMOTE-IL Maternal Health Task Force Project for Illinois Maternal Health Strategies.