Sylvana Mahmic

Chief Executive Officer
Plumtree

Sylvana Mahmic is an advocate for early childhood intervention and the CEO of Plumtree.

Plumtree is a not-for-profit organisation that provides support for young children aged from birth to eight years old with a developmental delay or disability, and their families. She has held executive positions at Early Childhood Intervention Association NSW/ACT Chapter over the past 10 years, including the roles of President and Vice-President. Sylvana has served on more than 15 reference and advisory groups and five Ministerial appointments, including the Disability Council of NSW. She has been a member of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Independent Advisory Group since 2013.

Sylvana contributes a number of perspectives in her advocacy work: her personal experience as a mother of a young man who has a disability; her professional experience working with young children with disability and their families; and being from a culturally diverse background. Since 2009 Sylvana, her son and the extended family have been learning how to use a self-managed package using individualised funding and she uses these experiences to shine a light on the potential of this approach for people with a disability and their families. Sylvana is currently undertaking research into individualised funding models as a PhD candidate at University of Western Sydney.