For Immediate Release: August 15, 2018

Brookfield, Wis. – The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) is pleased to announce that qualified association members have elected the following individuals to serve as officers on the 2018-19 Board of Directors: President-elect R. Bryant Hightower Jr., CFSP; Treasurer Randall “Randy" P. Anderson, CFSP, CCO; and Secretary John "Jack" O. Mitchell, IV, CFSP, CCO, CCSP. The 2018-19 NFDA Board of Directors will be led by President Charles “Chuck” T. Bowman, CMSP, CFSP, CCO.

The officers serve one-year terms of office that begin following the 2018 NFDA International Convention & Expo in Salt Lake City. 

Current NFDA President Kenneth A. Cahall, CFSP, CCO, will continue his service on the Board with a one-year term as immediate past president that commences at the end of the 2018 NFDA Convention.

Continuing their service on the Board of Directors are At-large Representatives Pasquale S. Folino, CFSP, CCO (2017-19); Douglas "Dutch" R. Nie II, CFSP, CCO (2017-19); and John W. Wenig (2018-20). They will be joined by At-large Representative Christopher P. Robinson, CFSP, CCO (2018-20). Robinson and Wenig were elected by the Policy Board to serve as at-large representatives in July 2018.

From August 1-14, 963 eligible NFDA members voted in the election. In the 2018 NFDA officer elections, Hightower and Anderson ran unopposed. In the contested election for secretary, the results were:

• John "Jack" O. Mitchell, IV, CFSP, CCO, CCSP: 54.25%
• Stephen R. Kemp, CFSP: 45.75%

Information about the officers elected to serve on the Board of Directors, can be found on the NFDA website, www.nfda.org/vote.

Proposed Bylaws Changes

Along with electing officers to serve on the Board of Directors, qualified association members were also responsible for voting on proposed changes to the NFDA Bylaws. Bylaws changes require a two-thirds affirmative vote to pass.

Two technical changes to improve and clarify the Bylaws passed with 82.65% of eligible members voting in favor of them.

Eligible NFDA members also voted on the addition of a new, limited membership category for a select group of companies with an established track record of supporting NFDA. This proposal passed with 69.06% of members voting in favor of the new category of membership.

NFDA is the world's leading and largest funeral service association, serving more than 20,000 individual members who represent nearly 11,000 funeral homes in the United States and 49 countries around the world. NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession. NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals. NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.nfda.org.

# # # 

Contact: Jessica Koth, 262-814-1536, jkoth@nfda.org