Dena Blizzard

Dena Blizzard is a comedian, mother of three, and creator of "One Funny Mother." She hosts a daily Facebook LIVE show, One Funny Morning, with over 25K daily viewers, and has an Off-Broadway show and media company dedicated to celebrating wine, women, and "laughing 'til your face hurts." She is also a viral video star widely known for her "Back-to-School Rant" and Chardonnay Go, which is now a board game for "Wine Lovers, Moms, and Other Shameless People." Dena enjoys making videos about the plight of women, drinking on the Internet, and eating gluten-free lasagna.

Jodi Clock

Clock Funeral Home

Jodi Clock has worked in the ‘end-of-life planning’ industry since 1988. She is a certified in cremation arrangement, pet loss and grief companioning. Her experience includes working for family and corporately owned funeral homes, advanced planning companies, pet death care, grief, and casket manufacturers. Presently, Jodi serves as an Ambassador for ClearPoint Federal Bank & Trust. She also is the president, owner, and founder of Clock Timeless Pets, a managing business partner at Clock Funeral Home, and Phoenix Crematory Services, which are all located along the lakeshore in Muskegon, MI.  She is also a published author. Her book called “Navigating the Eldercare Journey….without going broke!”, is soon to be in its third edition. When she’s not playing with her grandchildren or volunteering you will find her on the beach most likely rocking out to Bruce Springsteen.

Leili McMurrough

Program Director, Worsham College

Leili McMurrough is a licensed funeral director and embalmer and a licensed attorney. Leili received her B.A. from Lehigh University, her J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law and her Associate degree from Simmons Institute of Funeral Service. Leili is the Program Director at Worsham College and works at McMurrough Funeral Chapel in Libertyville, Illinois. She is also a member of the American Board of Funeral Service Education Committee on Accreditation.

Meg Myers Morgan

Associate Professor & Author

Dr. Meg Myers Morgan is an expert in career development and advancement. Her latest bestselling book, Everything is Negotiable, offers tactics to help women negotiate for more in work and life. Meg is an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma and leads the graduate programs in Public Administration and Non-profit Management on the OU-Tulsa campus. Meg holds a PhD focusing on the relationship between the public and non-profit sector, and certification in Executive and Leadership Coaching from Columbia University. Meg's TEDx Talk, "Negotiating for Your Life,” has been viewed thousands of times. Her collection of essays, Harebrained, won the gold medal for humor from the Independent Publishers Book Awards.

Michael D. Sharkey

Attorney and Funeral Director

Mike Sharkey is an attorney and licensed funeral director. He is an equity partner at the Minneapolis litigation firm of Cousineau Van Bergen and is Chair of the firm’s Mortuary Law Practice Group. In addition to advising and counseling funeral homes, crematories, and cemeteries he also actively litigates cases for large and small businesses in state and federal court. Mike serves as an expert witness in mortuary cases and is General Counsel to both the WFDA and MFDA. Prior to law school, Mike worked as both a small-town funeral director and at a very large funeral home cluster in a major metro area, thus experiencing all aspects of funeral service work.

Tawnia Steinhoff

The Dodge Company

Tawnia Steinhoff is an embalmer and account representative for The Dodge Company, covering Iowa, Nebraska and the Dakotas. She attended Kansas City Community College, graduating in 2001 with a degree in Mortuary Science. Tawnia became licensed as a funeral service practitioner in 2002. Prior to being employed as an embalmer and technical adviser for the Iowa Donor Network for three years, she spent seven years with Bertrand Funeral Homes of Knoxville and Pleasantville as an embalmer and funeral director.

Jason Troyer, Ph.D.

Grief Therapist

Dr. Troyer is a grief expert, author, former psychology professor, and therapist. He helps funeral homes and cemeteries connect with their communities with grief support materials. He is the Founder of Mt. Hope Grief Services and provides aftercare materials, workshops, presentations, training seminars, and consulting services. He is also the Community Engagement & Grief Support Consultant for Grandview Cemetery in Maryville, TN.

Angela Woosley

Inspired Journeys Founder

Angela Woosley, M.A. is a Minnesota-licensed mortician and founder of Inspired Journeys LLC, the Midwest’s first woman-owned and client-centered natural deathcare provider, offering a full spectrum of funeral services from community-directed after-death care assistance, celebrant services, end-of-life doula work, and natural disposition facilitation. She taught for over ten years in the Program of Mortuary Science at the University of Minnesota, where she earned an M.A. studying how parents' advanced funeral planning influences their adult children's advanced funeral planning. Angela also currently serves as vice president on the board of directors for the National Home Funeral Alliance.