Wylie Bystedt - President
Wylie became a provincial board member in 1994 and has held a number of positions on the BC Chapter Executive, finally becoming President in 2003. Wylie also joined the National Board that same year as the Chapter Representative and has served on a number of national committees, recently completing two years as the Editor of the National Intervention Newsmagazine and two years as the Vice President of Special Projects.
Wylie is the parent of two daughters, the younger of whom is deafblind. She is currently finishing her Bachelor of Arts in Applied Communication from Royal Roads University.
Wylie’s main operations include two enterprises – Coyote Acres Management, a business and marketing consulting firm and Coyote Acres Ranch, a working ranch specializing in the production of natural beef, lamb and pork. She has a special interest is merging the interests of the business community and the interests of the disabled community.
Other than her work with the deafblind community Wylie is also active on a number of provincial and municipal boards, including:
- Vice President, Business Improvement Association of British Columbia (BIABC)
- Director, Quesnel & District Chamber of Commerce
- Director, Communities in Bloom, City of Quesnel
- Founding Member of the Cariboo Region Accessibility Committee
- Vice President, West Quesnel Business Association
- Member, North Cariboo Agricultural Marketing Co-operative
Wylie is committed to the goals of the CDBRA and strives to make quality intervention a reality for every individual who is deafblind.
Pat Tombe - Vice President
Patricia Tombe is married, with two married adult children and two grandsons. Pat has been a Girl guide Leader for 10 yrs, and has been on the Girl Guide District Council for two yrs. She has been a Foster Parent for two girls with special needs for the last 13 yrs. The oldest is 26 yrs. old and the youngest is 17 yrs old, born medically fragile with multiple disabilities. When the youngest was 10 yrs old, deafblindness was added to her disabilities. In order to tackle the challenge of raising a Deafblind child, Pat enrolled in a number of courses and training in this area, taking the Intervenor course, Invisible Disabilities workshop, and Advocate course.
Katherine Simola - Secretary/Treasurer
Ellen Faustman
Ellen has been involved with the CDBRA-BC board for several years. She first became involved with the CDBRA-BC when she supported a young man who is deafblind as his intervenor. She served as his intervenor for five years, and became part of the CDBRA-BC board out of interest and in wanting to support him further.
Ellen holds her Early Childhood Education diploma and is taking the Deafblind studies courses through the Provincial Outreach Program for Students with Deafblindness and Douglas College. She works at the Deafblind Services Society of British Columbia as the Manager of Intervention services.
Outside of her involvement with the CDBRA-BC she is the Ballet Co Chair with the Pacific West Performing Arts Festival. She is kept busy with her 3 daughters who all dance competitively and going for power walks with her dog.
Mary Arnason
Mary first became involved with the CDBRA in 1996 when she volunteered to produce all the conference material for the Canadian Conference on Deafblindness hosted by the BC Chapter. Since then Mary went on to join the Board in 2002. She has been instrumental in helping brand the BC Chapter and has helped produce the Chapter newsletter, invitations, brochures and other documentation as required. She has also been the designer/publisher of the National Intervention Newsmagazine for the past two years.
Professionally Mary has been a typesetter and graphic designer for 20 years; as well, she is a Journeyman Compositor. Up until this year she worked for one of Canada's largest Branding & Advertising Agencies working with many international companies. Recently Mary has taken a position with a smaller Vancouver firm to work in a different vein of the same trade, broadening her experience into the world of multimedia.
Mary is an aunt to an individual with deafblindness and is pleased to bring the extended family perspective to the provincial board.
Dr. Linda Mamer
Lee Wilcox
Linnea Cudmore
Theresa Tancock