Board of Management 2009 - 2010

President

Mike McKevvitt 

Mike is married with 4 children and lives in East Perth.  He is a geologist working for a consultancy in West Perth and has worked in the mining industry for over 20 years in Australia, Africa and Indonesia.  His interest in DSWA is through his son, Jack who is 13 years old, and his primary aim is to give something back to the association after gaining so much from it.  Mike hopes to contribute to the Board through assisting in the development of plans, monitoring of budgets and project targets.

Vice President

Brian Matthews

Brian is married with 3 children, lives in Nedlands, and is actively involved in supporting his children with their sporting interests.  He works in a Team Leader role with the Commonwealth Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.  Previously he worked with community based not-for-profit organisations in supporting disadvantaged families to access education opportunities and people with disabilities to gain employment. 

Brian joined the Board during 2007-2008 at a time when we wanted to develop the Strategic Directions over the next five years.  His role was to work with the staff and Board in reviewing where the organisation had come from, determining where we were at and identifying the strategic priorities for the future.  A major achievement was the review and development of our new Vision, Values and Mission.  This set the framework for completion of the Down Syndrome WA Strategic Plan 2009-2013. 

Treasurer

Ken Barnett

Ken is married to Jane and they have two children, Elizabeth and Katherine.  Ken has worked in the accounting and finance field within the WA energy and banking industries for over 25 years.  He has recently taken a new role as funding officer for Iluka Resources Limited.  He is looking to contribute in some way to the community and was introduced to Down Syndorme WA by his wife and friends. 

Secretary

Cathy Donovan

Board Member

Beth Stein

Beth and her husband Trent are the proud parents of 2 wonderful sons, Bowman (10) and Nate (6).  This is Beth's forth year running on the Down Syndrome WA Board which, she says, has meant education, joy, challenges and reflection as a result of her experiences.  She has met many dedicated people.  It has also been a learning curve for her, especially in relation to governance of the Association and guiding the new Down Syndrome WA into the future with the current Strategic Plan.  Most of all it has been a privilege to be able to contribute at this level. 

Beth was a founding member of the Mumraisers group which last year introduced the Association's first range of Awareness Items.  Mumraisers also contribute to the running of events and raising awareness and funds to support the essential services which DSWA can provide each year.  DSWA's mission is to support people with Down syndrome to achieve their goals.  This can be done in many direct and indirect ways.  Beth hopes that members embrace opportunities to stay connected to the Association so that together we can provide support and information through life stages.  Members can make a huge contribution by raising awareness, floating our butterfly through the community, providing constructive feedback for future planning, volunteering at and/or attending one of our events to celebrate alongside those born with Down syndrome and promoting working towards the brightest 'future of possibilities' yet. 

Board Member

Lucy Tilli

Lucy has been a part of Down Syndrome WA for the past 11 years, since her son Alex was born.  She has been either on the Board or on Fundraising Committees for 9 of those years.  Lucy has a background of finance and worked at Hartley's Stockbroking firm for 14 years.  With this experience and her enormous contact list, Lucy was able to contribute in a variety of ways over the years to help raise funds for the Association.  Lucy organised the very first Down Syndrome WA Butterfly Ball in 2005 which was a huge success and took fundraising for the Association to another level.

Board Member

Julie Jalawadi

Julie is married to Raj and has two daughters Jessica (16) and Sharon(15).  Julie has worked in the public service for 25 years, mainly in the area of Client Service and Taxation.  Julie met Raj 20 years ago while doing mission work for her church in India.  The family now tries to travel to India every two years to meet with extended family.  Julie is also still involved in mission work.

She has been on the DSWA Board for three years and was in the role of treasurer for two years. Julie has an accounting background and has acted as treasurer with other community organisations in the past.  With two teenage daughters there is very little time for hobbies.  Most spare time is devoted to driving the girls around, shopping with them and helping them with their homework.  However, Julie enjoys reading and cryptic crosswords whenever she can find the time.

 Board Member

Sonia Smuts

 Board Member

Sue Seeber

Down Syndrome WA Staff

Executive Officer

Cathy Donovan

Cathy is married with 3 sons and became involved with Down Syndrome WA when her youngest, Stephen, was born in 1989. 

xxxxxxx.......... ...to be completed.................. 

Family Support

Julie Ireland

Julie is married with 3 children and has been involved with Down Syndrome WA for 18 years, since her son Glenn was born in 1991.  Julie and her husband Dennis valued the support they were given at the time and found it reassuring to know that they were not alone, and that there were other people around who had been through this, and were still smiling!

Julie has volunteered in a number of ways over the years including editing the newsletter, as a committee member, talking at schools, and visiting new parents in hospital.  She is currently employed for one day per week to provide family support.  This means that she arranges information and visits for new parents, answers queries on the helpline, refers people to resources that may help and offers a different perspective or alternative strategy to try.

She is also employed for one day per week to provide educational assistance. This may be talking to parents about educational issues or providing strategies to a teacher to help solve a classroom problem.  Over the last few years she has been involved in professional development training for teaching staff, suport workers and medical staff.  What keeps her doing all of this?  The passion to make a difference!  No one is able to give you the exact answer to difficult situations in life, but with enough information, alternative strategies and encouragement, most people are empowered to face those situations head on.

Information and Development

Jackie Softly

Administration

Carol Manus

Carol is married with  4 children and has a 21 year old daughter, Louise, who has Down syndrome.  Carol joined the staff at DSWA in 2006 to help out with reception and administration duties.  She is employed for three days per week and is involved in general reception and office duties.  This can include parent and community support, information distribution, organising functions and accounting administration.

Administration Assistant

Lurleen Van Vlijmen

Lurleen has been married for 36 years and has 4 children and 11 grandchildren.  Her 2 youngest children are John Paul (18) and Mikaela (16) who both have Down syndrome.  Lurleen commenced working for DSWA in February 2009 and is employed for two days per week. 

She is looking forward to working in a part time capacity for as long as she can be of help.

Library and Resources

Karen Tonge