Meet the Team
U.S. Donor Conceived Council relies exclusively upon the hard work and dedication of our all-volunteer team. Learn more about USDCC’s history and mission here.
TIFFANY D. GARDNER
President/CEO & Vice President of Communications
Tiffany is a late-discovery donor conceived person who learned the truth at 35. She is responsible for setting the overall strategy and vision for USDCC. She also drafts content for publication and establishes relationships with members of the wider donor conception community.
Tiffany is an attorney and lives with her husband and three young sons in the suburbs of Atlanta. She enjoys writing, going to concerts, and playing video and board games with her family. She is the author of a forthcoming law review article, Forgotten Parties: Shifting the Focus of Donor Conception to Donor-Conceived Persons Through Reasonable Regulation, 74 Mercer L. Rev. 100 (2023) (forthcoming).
Jillian phillips, mph, mba
Secretary & Vice President of Government Affairs
Raised the only child of a single mother, Jillian always knew she was conceived via an anonymous sperm donor. Jillian leads USDCC’s efforts to develop, introduce, and pass legislation that considers the best interests of donor conceived people.
Jillian lives in Indiana with three dogs and one cat. She has a degree in biology, masters of public health, a masters of business administration, and is currently pursuing a law degree. She began figure skating at the age of three and competed in ice dancing and synchro for 12 years. She continues to coach at a local rink.
tyler levy sniff
Treasurer & Vice President of Legal Affairs
Tyler is a late-discovery donor conceived person. He acts as General Counsel for USDCC, ensuring compliance with relevant rules and regulations, and drafting and reviewing legal documents for the organization. He also helps develop legislation proposed by USDCC.
Tyler is an attorney for the EPA and earned a degree in physics from Furman University, where he also studied genetics. He lives in Atlanta and enjoys spending time with his family, listening to jazz, and playing golf and the saxophone.
melissa bornico
Vice President of Development & Director of Social Media
Melissa was conceived from an anonymous egg donor and learned this just before turning 22. She spearheads USDCC’s fundraising initiatives and manages the group’s social media sites.
Melissa lives in New York with her dog and two cats. She has a degree in neuroscience with experience working in medicine, research, bioethics, and human rights. In her free time, she enjoys traveling and art, and she is addicted to thrifting and used book stores.
lindsay harris, lcsw
Director of Mental Health Initiatives
Lindsay is a licensed clinical social worker, late-discovery donor conceived person, and also a recipient parent of donor sperm that she and her wife used to conceive their two sons. She works with other mental health providers to develop educational and support materials for USDCC.
Lindsay works in private practice providing therapy in the Atlanta area. She has often worked with individuals and couples going through fertility treatments.
Advisory Committee
U.S. Donor Conceived Council is committed to working with and learning from individuals who have professional and/or personal experience with donor conception. We are honored to consult with the following volunteer members of our Advisory Committee on a regular basis.
Naomi R. Cahn – Family Law & Reproductive Technology Law Advisor
Naomi Cahn is the Justice Anthony M. Kennedy Distinguished Professor of Law, Nancy L. Buc ’69 Research Professor in Democracy and Equity, and Co-Director, Family Law Center at the University of Virginia School of Law. She has written extensively about reproductive technology, including third party reproduction. Prior to joining the University of Virginia faculty in 2020, she taught at George Washington Law School, where she twice served as associate dean.
Dr. Diane Tober – Egg and Sperm Donation Advisor
Dr. Diane Tober is an associate professor at the University of Alabama Department of Anthropology and Institute for Social Science Research and author of Romancing the Sperm: Shifting Biopolitics and the Making of Modern Families. She has conducted research exploring egg donors’ decisions and experiences since 2013. With funding from the National Science Foundation, she is conducting research comparing egg donation in the United States and Spain.
Sonia Suter – Reproductive Technology Law Advisor
Sonia is the Kahan Family Research Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Health Law Initiative at The George Washington University Law School. She has widely published in the areas of reproductive rights, emerging reproductive technologies, and ethical and legal issues in genetics. Sonia co-authored Genetics: Ethics, Law and Policy and Reproductive Technologies and the Law, and holds an MS and PhD candidacy in human genetics and a JD from the University of Michigan.
Carole LieberWilkins, MA, MFT – Mental Health Advisor
Carole is a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice and author of Let’s Talk About Egg Donation: Real stories from real people. Her experience creating a family through adoption and egg donation deepens her understanding of the challenges others face when exploring these complex family building options. Because the focus of her work has always been to help people build healthy families, she is also an advocate for donor conceived people.
Jana M. Rupnow, LPC – Mental Health Advisor
Jana is a licensed psychotherapist who has counseled intended parents via donor conception using a child-focused, didactic approach since 2010. As an adoptee who was told the truth from birth, she understands the value of open and honest communication between parents and children. Her books, Three Makes Baby: How to Parent Your Donor-Conceived Child and the Three Makes Baby Companion Workbook, help parents navigate conversations with donor conceived children.
Joni Mantell, LCSW – Mental Health Advisor
Joni had 30 years’ experience as a licensed psychotherapist specializing in donor conception and adoption when she learned from a DNA test that she was donor conceived. She has been a longstanding advocate for parental openness, offering counseling and workshops for parents on the topic. She is also passionate about advocating for change within the reproductive medicine industry.
Brad Pfaff – Information Technology Advisor
Brad is the assistant vice president of service experience analytics for Cox Communications, where he has worked since 2014. He was previously a project engineer for Honeywell Aerospace. Brad holds a M.S. in mechanical engineering and a B.S. in mechanical engineering, both from Georgia Tech. In 2019, Brad learned he was conceived through use of an anonymous sperm donor.
Erin Jackson – President Emeritus
Erin founded USDCC and served as its first president and CEO. She stepped down after 2022 to focus on her other interests and endeavors, including We Are Donor Conceived, which she established in 2016. She continues to lend her expertise to USDCC in the areas of nonprofit management and communications.
Eve Wiley, LPC – Fertility Fraud Advisor
In 2018, through commercial DNA testing, Eve discovered she was the product of fertility fraud. Upon learning that only one state had enacted fertility fraud legislation, she became an advocate for fertility fraud victims and people who face legislative roadblocks accessing their genetic identity. Her efforts have led to ten states (seven of which she worked on) passing civil and criminal causes of action, and the filing of a federal bill for fertility fraud victims.