Cassi Chandler
President & CEO, Vigeo Alliance
Cassandra “Cassi” Chandler is an innovator, strategist, investigator, and leader who has broken barriers, led diverse teams, and built cultures of motivational leadership and inclusivity at some of the world’s most important organizations, including Bank of America and the FBI. In a career that has included many “firsts” across the U.S. government and financial services industries, she served as the FBI’s first African American female special agent assistant director as well as the Bureau’s first female national spokesperson and director of public and community affairs. The founder, president, and CEO of Vigeo Alliance – a leadership and talent risk management partner helping organizations elevate their cultures through diversity and inclusion – Chandler is dedicated to helping organizations position themselves for success by building more diverse and inclusive cultures that thrive.
Lynda Cheldelin Fell
Founding Partner, International Grief Institute
Lynda Cheldelin Fell is an international bestselling author of over 35 books including the award winning Grief Diaries series. With her background as a firefighter/EMT, Lynda specializes in trauma, grief, compassion fatigue, and holds a national certification in critical incident stress management. A popular keynote speaker and educator, she is a member of the continuing education faculty at Whatcom Community College where she teaches classes on resilience, managing grief in the workplace, and compassion fatigue. To research grief’s impact on society, she has interviewed people around the world including societal figures such as Martin Luther King’s daughter, and Heaven is For Real’s Pastor Todd Burpo. She has earned six national literary awards and five national advocacy award nominations for her work.
Bob Harris
Harris Management Group, Inc.
Bob has 30+ years of experience working with associations, chambers, and other nonprofits. There are more than one million nonprofit organizations in the USA and Bob has studied thousands of them to develop best practices. He started his career in Washington DC working with Presidential Classroom. He went on to build an association management company in Tallahassee, FL. He’s been dubbed the “Martha Stewart of association management” for providing tips and templates for making management easier. These are available free on his website at www.nonprofitcenter.com. Bob is on the faculty for the US Chamber of Commerce and has authored books on association management. To improve management, he created the Association Self-Auditing Process, used by more than 20,000 organizations. Bob believes that nonprofit organizations should be as efficient as any commercial business.
John O. “Jack” Mitchell IV, CFSP, CCSP
NFDA 2022-23 President
Jack is a sixth-generation funeral director with Mitchell-Wiedefeld Funeral Home in Baltimore, Maryland. He has also operated John O. Mitchell IV Funeral Services of Dulaney Valley since 2007, when he and his father became the owners of Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens. Jack has extensive experience serving on committees with both the Maryland State Funeral Directors Association (MSFDA) and NFDA. He is a past president of MSFDA and is Maryland’s former representative to the NFDA Policy Board. Nationally, Jack has served on the NFDA Advocacy Committee, Budget Task Force, Convention Education Task Force, Spokesperson Team and Cemetery Resources Work Group. He previously served as an at-large representative on the NFDA Board of Directors.
Tim Purves
Chairman, William Purves Funeral Directors
Tim Purves is the 5th generation to be the Chairman, and owner of William Purves Funeral Directors. This Edinburgh based company was established in 1888 by a cabinetmaker turned undertaker from the Scottish Borders. It is today the largest, independent funeral business in Scotland, with a team of more than 100 staff across 25 branches in Scotland and northeast England and looking after around 3500 funerals each year. The company continues to uphold core values of compassion, dedication, integrity, and respect and is trusted to regularly conduct many high-profile funerals, including most recently the funeral for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Tim is married to Ali, and they have three children, Freya, Jacob & Elodie. A committed Christian, Tim’s faith is core to all he seeks to be a husband, father, and funeral director.