Who runs Private Label Surrogacy and where is the office?
Private Label Surrogacy is run by the people who do the work. Nancy Block, RN, founded the agency in 2017 and personally runs matching. Before PLS she spent 17 years as an OB/GYN and fertility nurse and staff educator at Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Prentice Women's Pavilion, then founded The Center for Egg Options Illinois in 2000 and ran it for 15 years. She is a former President of SEEDS, the Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy, and across her career has made more than 2,500 matches.
Mark Silverberg, DDS, MD, is Executive Director. He has more than 30 years of medical practice, including work as an anesthesiologist in Chicago-area operating facilities with many obstetric and gynecologic cases. He reads every surrogate candidate's prenatal and delivery records himself.
The rest of the team you will work with:
- Jo Ann Levitan, Director of Operations, who was a fertility patient herself before her daughter was born in 2011.
- Jan Telman Berman, Global Surrogacy Coordinator, with more than 18 years managing national and international cycles.
- Natalie Gaudio-Fricano and Jenni Symons, case managers who have both been gestational surrogates. They carry the active matches.
- Julie Bendix, MPH, RD, LD, CLC, registered dietitian and lactation counselor for PLS surrogates.
The office is at 1721 Mission Hills Road, Unit 406, Northbrook, IL 60062, about 25 miles north of the Loop. Phone (847) 496-0600, email team@privatelabelsurrogacy.com. Consultations are held in person or by video. See the Northbrook office page for directions.
What does a Chicago surrogacy agency actually do?
An agency does the work that sits between your fertility clinic and the birth. Your clinic creates embryos and performs the transfer. The agency finds and screens the surrogate, runs the match, and coordinates everyone else until your baby is home.
At PLS that work includes:
- Recruiting surrogates in surrogacy-friendly states and running the seven-step screening.
- Matching, run personally by Nancy.
- Coordinating your clinic, the independent attorneys for both sides, the independent escrow agent and the insurance review.
- Case management through birth by a case manager who has been a surrogate herself.
- Nutrition and mental-health support for the surrogate across the pregnancy.
- The birth plan and hospital coordination.
- Rematching if a match ends before transfer.
What PLS deliberately does not do is employ the psychologists, attorneys or escrow agents in your journey. It refers to independent licensed professionals, because the people who evaluate a surrogate or hold your money should not answer to the agency. That is a conflict-of-interest stance, and PLS has held it since 2017.
Being based in Illinois shapes the work. The Illinois Gestational Surrogacy Act (2005) makes compensated gestational surrogacy agreements enforceable and lets intended parents be named on the original birth certificate through pre-birth paperwork, with no adoption. Since the Equality for Every Family Act was signed in December 2025, intended parents no longer need a genetic link to the child, and both sides must have independent counsel. An Illinois agency builds its timeline around those steps: the agreement is signed before any medication, and the parentage filing is planned for the second trimester so it is ready if the baby comes early.
How does PLS screen surrogates for Chicago intended parents?
Every surrogate goes through the same seven steps, whether she lives in Chicago or another state:
- Online application.
- Interview with a case manager.
- Medical records review by Dr. Silverberg.
- Background check.
- Insurance review of her health plan.
- Psychological evaluation by an independent licensed professional.
- Medical screening at your fertility clinic.
The records review is the step most agencies do not have. Dr. Silverberg reads the candidate's prenatal and delivery records and writes a physician medical summary that goes to your clinic. The agency agreement defines this as review by a board-certified physician. Your reproductive endocrinologist starts with a full picture of how her previous pregnancies went, not just a questionnaire.
To apply, a surrogate must be 21 to 43, a US citizen or permanent resident, have a BMI under 33, have had at least one healthy full-term pregnancy and be raising a child now. She must be a non-smoker, not on government assistance, living in a stable home, and not currently taking antidepressants.
Which Chicago fertility clinics does PLS work with?
PLS works with 14 partner fertility centers, including Kindbody, Shady Grove Fertility, Fertility Centers of Illinois and Oregon Reproductive Medicine. In Chicago, families most often work with Fertility Centers of Illinois or Kindbody.
A partner clinic simply has an established workflow with the PLS team. You are not required to use one. PLS coordinates with any licensed IVF clinic you choose, including clinics outside Illinois, and covers the surrogate's travel to your clinic for screening and transfer.
The clinic does the surrogate's medical screening, prescribes her medications, performs the transfer and monitors the early pregnancy. IVF and clinic fees are paid directly to the clinic. See Illinois fertility clinics for how the clinic and agency roles divide.
What does the Chicago program cost and where does the money sit?
Intended parents budget $150,000 to $200,000 for the full journey. Itemized, a PLS journey runs about $112,000 to $127,000 before clinic fees and any new surrogate insurance.
| Item | Amount | When paid | Paid to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Program fee, current | $35,000 | $15,000 at signing, $15,000 at surrogate acceptance, $5,000 at medical clearance | PLS |
| Program fee, proposed on new agreements | $42,000 | $20,000 / $17,000 / $5,000 at the same milestones | PLS |
| Escrow deposit at match | $10,000 | At match | Independent licensed escrow agent |
| Escrow balance | Balance of the escrow budget | Before medications start | Independent licensed escrow agent |
| Third-party costs | $15,300 to $29,000 | Through escrow | Attorneys, escrow agent, evaluator, insurance review, travel, monitoring |
| Surrogate health insurance, if needed | $5,000 to $40,000 | Before transfer | Insurance carrier |
| IVF and clinic fees | Set by your clinic | As each step happens | Your clinic |
| Typical total journey | $150,000 to $200,000 | Over 18 to 24 months | All of the above |
Program fee: confirm current schedule.
The money sits with an independent licensed escrow agent, not with PLS. You can choose your own escrow company. Surrogate compensation, expenses and third-party fees are paid out of that account under the gestational carrier agreement. PLS never holds client money, and has used independent licensed escrow since it opened. When the Surro Connections agency collapsed in late 2025 and the SEAM escrow company failed with more than $16 million involved, families who had given money to the agency or a captive escrow were the ones exposed. See escrow and the Illinois cost breakdown.
How long does matching take right now?
From signing to meeting your surrogate takes about 9 months today. PLS's target is 6 months or fewer. Matching itself averages about 6 months.
PLS states the current wait plainly because it is the longest single stage of most journeys, and you should plan around the real number. After you are matched, legal and medical foundations take 1 to 2 months, the medical cycle to transfer takes 2 to 3 months, and the pregnancy test comes 9 to 11 days after transfer. The whole journey typically runs 18 to 24 months.
Current matching timeline: confirm with Nancy.
How do Chicago surrogates get matched and paid?
Nancy matches on fit and clinic logistics, not on distance alone. Fit means things both sides can name in advance: shared expectations for the pregnancy, how much contact each side wants during and after it, and whether the surrogate's health plan and travel distance work for your clinic.
When Nancy presents a match, you receive the surrogate's profile and meet her, usually by video. Both sides decide. Nothing is signed until each side has talked with its own attorney. A Chicago surrogate may carry for local parents, out-of-state parents or international parents. Before a match is offered, her screening is complete and Dr. Silverberg's medical summary is ready for the clinic.
Surrogates are paid from the independent escrow account under their agreement, never from the agency's bank account. A first-time surrogate receives $60,000 base compensation (proposed, up from $55,000), or $65,000 to $70,000 if experienced, within a typical total package of roughly $68,000 to $78,000. The package adds a $300 monthly allowance, $500 at medication start, $1,000 at transfer, maternity clothing, housekeeping late in pregnancy, pumping support, lost wages for her and her partner, and extended life insurance up to $750,000.
Each surrogate has her own attorney, paid by the intended parents, and a case manager who has carried a pregnancy for another family herself. If you are a Chicago-area woman thinking about carrying, start with the Illinois surrogacy overview. If you are an intended parent, book a consultation with Nancy's team.
Sources
- SEEDS, Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy
- Illinois Gestational Surrogacy Act (2005), Illinois General Assembly