Dutch Nie to serve as 2023-24 NFDA President

For Immediate Release: August 8, 2023

Brookfield, Wis. – 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 Christopher P. Robinson, CFSP, CCO; Treasurer Daniel J. Ford, CFSP, CCO; and Secretary Chris E. Christian, CFSP, CCO. Additionally, all three proposed changes to the NFDA bylaws passed. 

The officers will serve one-year terms of office that begin immediately following the 2023 NFDA International Convention & Expo, which will take place September 10-13 in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

From July 25-August 7, 1,092 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: 

President-elect

• President-elect Christopher P. Robinson, CFSP, CCO 100% (1,048 votes)

Treasurer 

• Daniel J. Ford, CFSP, CCO 100% (1,046 votes)

Secretary 

• Chris E. Christian, CFSP, CCO, Christian-Sells Funeral Home, Rogersville, Tennessee 66.51% (717 votes)
• Beatrice E. Lewanduski, CFSP, Claude R. Boyd-Spencer Funeral Home, Babylon, New York 33.49% (361 votes)

Douglas R. “Dutch” Nie II, CFSP, CCO, of Nie Family Funeral Home & Cremation Service in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will ascend from his current president-elect role to lead the association as the 2023-24 NFDA President.

Current NFDA President John O. “Jack” Mitchell IV, CFSP, CCSP, will continue his service on the Board with a one-year term as immediate past president. 

Also continuing their service on the Board of Directors are 2022-24 At-large Representatives Brad Walker of Walker Funeral Homes in Spanish Fork, Utah, and Bobby “Steve” Spann of Spann Funeral Home in Dickson, Tennessee. 

They will be joined by Homer E. Elwood Jr. and Ellen Wynn McBrayer, CFSP, CPC, who were elected in June by state association representatives to serve as the 2023-25 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 changes to the NFDA Bylaws. Bylaws changes require a two-thirds affirmative vote to pass. Each proposed change was voted on separately. 

The proposed bylaw changes, though seemingly small, will ensure that NFDA continues to impartially and effectively represent the interests of all funeral directors. Details about each of these changes can be found online: https://portal.nfda.org/Bylaws-Vote. 

• Electronic Quorum Provision – Passed with 95.79% (1,046 votes) in favor 
• State Association Representatives – Passed with 95.24% (1,040 votes) in favor 
• Board Composition Requirements – Passed with 94.05% (1,027 votes) in favor 

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