Our Board of Directors is made up of individuals who volunteer their time to help promote home educating and who, with the help of the Home School Legal Defence Association of Canada (HSLDA) protect the freedom to home educate throughout New Brunswick.

Board directors are elected by the HENB members for a term of two years and are able to be re-elected at the end of their current terms.

President: Shawn (Robin) Titus

Shawn grew up in Gondola Point and Robin moved from Ontario to NB with her family when she was young. They have been married since 2001 and have one daughter, Kinsley. They both grew up in church taking active roles in leadership in their adult years at Waypoint Church. Robin serves on the hospitality team and in children’s ministry. Shawn has served 13 years on the church board and been involved in the tech side of ministry for many more years. Shawn has worked at the Irving Oil Refinery since 1998 after graduating from NBCC SJ in the Electronics Engineering Technology program. Robin has held several administrative roles before the arrival of Kinsley in 2014. Shawn has also served 9 years on the board of the Kings Way Life Care Alliance that governs 2 long term care homes, serving the last 2 years as the chair. He has provided leadership to the Saint John and District Church Hockey League for 25 plus years and is currently the Executive Director for KV Girls Softball. Their decision to home school was born out of a desire to provide tailored education with a biblical influence. Robin is an active member within Fundy Home Educators and they both spend time in their gardens growing food and teaching Kinsley about becoming a self sustaining home. Becoming part of the HENB leadership team is one way they can give back to the home school community. They look forward to working with all of the families that are part of HENB to provide a long term sustainable support system for local groups and families.

Past President: Rod (Dawn) Cumberland

Rod served as the HENB President from 2015 to 2020 and 2022-2025. Rod’s life was altered in a number of ways when he attended UNB in the 1980’s. He obtained a BSc in Forestry, met his wife Dawn, and committed his life to Jesus Christ. Rod then spent the lion’s share of his career (22 years) as a provincial wildlife biologist at NBDNR, taught at the Forestry College for 7 years and worked as a researcher at the NB Legislature before he retired from government in 2021. Currently, he runs a small business, “East Coast Lumberjack”, and crafts axe handles he sells world-wide. Dawn served as President of the Greater Fredericton Home Educators until 2016 and has home educated all of their 4 children. For the past number of years she has been instrumental in organizing the annual HENB Conference and was the driving force behind initiating the fall Youth Retreat at Sandy Cove Bible Camp. Together, they have enjoyed investing back into HENB now that an empty nest has freed up a bit of time. They readily encourage members that homeschooling is well worth the time and effort, and are thankful for how God has blessed their efforts. The Cumberlands just recently scaled back their small hobby farm and now enjoy spending time with their grandchildren, as well as camping, playing music and competing and training others at Lumberjack Sports.

Vice President: Tom (Jessica) Byers

Tom met Jessica through the 4-H program and they were married a year later in 1994. They now have 11 children, with 9 sons and 2 daughters. Tom became a Christian in 1999, the same spring that his wife rededicated her life to Christ. That summer they were both baptized. Their faith grew as they served in volunteer work through the Alpha program, Scouts, 4-H, Camp Tulakadik and their local church but their greatest strengthening came though submission to the Lord as they went through the loss of their 3rd son during late pregnancy the year after accepting the Lord. After moving to the Sussex area in 2001, they looked into home schooling three different times over the years. In January 2020, the Lord called them to make the life change and they started home schooling 7 of their children. Tom graduated from NSAC with a BSc. majoring in animal science. He now works with the NB Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries as the Provincial Non-Ruminant Livestock Specialist. Jessica graduated high school with honors and gave up a scholarship offer to pursue her dream of being a Wife, Mother and Homemaker.

Treasurer: Stephanie (Dan) O’Connor

Dan and Stephanie O’Connor were born and raised in New Brunswick and live outside of Moncton with their 3 kids. Stephanie has been homeschooling since the fall of 2018 after removing the children from public school for various reasons. It was the right choice for their family and they haven’t looked back. While Dan works as an electronics technologist, she has been able to stay home with them from birth. Starting the year before they married, they volunteered with the youth group at their church for 5 years, until their twins were born. There, Stephanie also served with nursery, as a Sunday School teacher and they both spent some time as CE (Christian Education) board members. Stephanie was also on the board of a Christian Camp for a few years. They recently began attending Emmanuel Baptist Church in Moncton and have not settled into any roles yet. Stephanie is a current leader of MCHE, the Christian support group in Moncton, and also helped out with leadership for MHE (Moncton Home Educators) for a time. They are looking forward to serving the homeschooling community in New Brunswick.

Secretary: Sarah (Matthew) Litson

Sarah was raised in a Christian home in Oklahoma and met her husband, Matt while in Bible college. After college, they traveled across the US to raise funds so that they could be involved in missions in Africa. In 2001, they moved to France where they spent a year learning French so that they could minister in Cote D’Ivoire, West Africa. Because of civil war, they had to leave Cote d’Ivoire 3 times and in 2011, after 10 years in Africa, had to make the difficult decision to find somewhere more stable for the sake of their 4 daughters. The Lord led them to settle in Edmundston, New Brunswick where they planted a bi-lingual church. All 4 of their daughters were born in different countries. Allison, their oldest was born in the US. Meganne was born in France during language studies, Joanna was born in Uganda during one of the times they had to leave Cote d’Ivoire and Samantha was born in Cote d’Ivoire. Sarah has spent the last 20 years homeschooling their 4 girls and has graduated 3 so far. Matt continues to pastor the Edmundston Baptist Church and Sarah teaches Sunday school.

Jillian (Jason) Ramsay

Jillian Ramsay is going into her 15th year of homeschooling. She and her husband of 21 years, Jason, have 3 children, Matthew, David and Leah (homeschool graduate). She has served on Fundy Home Educators’ (FHE) Executive in Saint John since she started homeschooling. Prior to this, Jillian worked a government job counselling and assessing offenders. Over the years, God has changed her from a high-achieving, self-deceived perfectionist to someone who seeks to relinquish control to Christ, embrace the gift of flexibility and acknowledge the immeasurable need for His grace each day. She also understands the importance of community and gives thanks regularly for the wonderful friends, moms, and homeschool teachers around her.