Paul Higginbotham
Executive Director

Paul Higginbotham is a teacher of the deaf who commenced working in the field of hearing impairment in 1982. Paul holds a Masters degree (Hons) in organisational leadership and opened and ran a language centre in Tokyo, Japan from 1991 to 1996. In 1997 he was appointed Principal of a school for deaf children in Perth and in November 2004 he became the CEO of a renamed Early Intervention Centre in Perth, a position he held until January 2013.

During a successful 15 year tenure Paul oversaw a $15 million rebuild of the centre's campus, increased annual student throughput from under 100 children a year to over 11,000 per annum, added programs and services to reach every corner of Western Australia and built a reputation for cutting edge excellence. Paul was also instrumental in lobbying state and federal politicians through the establishment of the Australian Collaboration on Hearing and Education (ACHE).

Paul served on the WA Newborn Hearing Screening Committee 1998-2013; chaired the WA Special Needs Advisory Committee (SNAC) from 2003-2005; is a member of the WA Deafness Council Executive Committee and in 2012 was the recipient of the Harry Blackmore Award for outstanding leadership in the field of childhood hearing impairment. Paul was a founding member of the Six Centre Alliance in 2003 which later became First Voice, an Australia-NZ alliance of early intervention centres specialising in childhood deafness.

The inaugural CEO of Earbus Foundation, a role he held for 10 years, Paul has presented at numerous state, national and international conferences and continues to do so in his role as Executive Director.