For Immediate Release: August 15, 2022

Jack Mitchell to lead NFDA as 2022-23 president

Brookfield, Wis. – In the first contested officer election since 2018, eligible voting members of the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) elected the following individuals to serve as officers on the Board of Directors: President-elect Douglas R. "Dutch" Nie II; Treasurer Christopher Payne Robinson; and Secretary Daniel J. Ford. 

The officers will serve one-year terms of office that begin on October 13, immediately following the 2022 NFDA International Convention & Expo in Baltimore, Maryland. 

From August 1-14, 1,404 votes were cast by eligible voting members. Votes were cast online through a secure balloting system run by YesElections. Winners of the officer elections are determined by a plurality vote. The results were: 

• Election for President-elect 
  • Nathan Morris, Morris Family Services & Haley McGinnis Funeral Home & Crematory, Owensboro, Kentucky: 21.3% (297Votes)
  • Douglas R. "Dutch" Nie II, CFSP, CCO, Nie Family Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Ann Arbor, Michigan: 78.7% (1,098 Votes)
• Election for Treasurer 
  • Larnique L. Mickens, Heritage Mortuary Inc., Las Vegas, Nevada: 28.0% (389 Votes)
  • Christopher Payne Robinson, CFSP, CCO, Robinson Funeral Home, Easley, South Carolina: 72.0% (1,002 Votes)
• Election for Secretary
  • Linda Allan Earl, CFSP, Allan & Ciuferi Funeral Home, Collinsville, Illinois: 45.0% (625 Votes)
  • Daniel J. Ford, CFSP, CCSP, Alderson-Ford Funeral Home, Cheshire, Connecticut: 55.0% (763 Votes)

The 2022-23 NFDA Board of Directors will be led by John O. “Jack” Mitchell IV, CFSP, CCSP, who will step up from his current president-elect role to the serve as the 2022-23 NFDA President.

Current NFDA President Randall P. “Randy” Anderson, 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 2022 NFDA Convention. 

Also continuing their service on the Board of Directors are 2021-23 At-large Representatives Chris Christian, CFSP, CCO, and Beatrice Lewanduski-Lecesse. They will be joined by Bobby Steven Spann, CFSP and Brad Walker, CFSP, CPC, CCO, who were elected in July by state association representatives to serve as the 2022-24 at-large representatives. 

Information about the individuals elected to serve on the Board of Directors can be found on the NFDA website, www.nfda.org/elections.    
  
Proposed Bylaws Changes

Along with electing officers to serve on the Board of Directors, qualified association members were also responsible for voting on proposed technical changes to the NFDA Bylaws. Bylaws changes require a two-thirds affirmative vote to pass. The proposed changes passed with 93.2% of the votes (1308) cast in favor of the modifications. 

The proposed changes were intended to make NFDA elections even more fair: 

• Leadership Development Committee – proposed technical update to Article X. B: A member of the Leadership Development Committee cannot serve as a state’s State Association Representative while also serving on the Leadership Development Committee.
  • Rationale: Leadership Development Committee members have access to more information on each candidate than the average member. This presents an advantage for few states and is not equitable and fair for all states.
• State Association Representative – proposed technical update to Article IX. E: The State Association Representative cannot be a current At-large Representative board candidate or be a current member of the Leadership Development Committee. 
  • Rationale: State Association Representatives are the voting representatives from each state who cast a ballot on behalf of their state for the at-large representatives on the NFDA Board of Directors. The State Association Representative, at-large representative candidates and members of the Leadership Development Committee should all be separate individuals. This allows for a more open and fair election.

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. 

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