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For Immediate Release: February 3, 2025

Brookfield, Wis. – The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) is proud to announce the 25 funeral professionals selected to participate in the 2025 Meet the Mentors program. This prestigious event, made possible through the generous support of the Funeral Service Foundation, will take place April 8-10, 2025, in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the NFDA Advocacy Summit.

Since its inception in 2011, Meet the Mentors has provided up-and-coming funeral service professionals with invaluable opportunities to learn from some of the most accomplished leaders in the profession. This year’s event will be particularly impactful, combining mentorship with real-world advocacy on Capitol Hill.

“Meet the Mentors is a transformative experience for funeral service professionals early in their careers,” said Sara Moss, MS, FT, LFD, NFDA associate director of Education. “Bringing this program to Washington, D.C., allows our mentees to not only gain career-changing insights from our distinguished mentors but also to develop the advocacy skills necessary to shape the future of funeral service.”

Congratulations to the 2025 Meet the Mentors Participants

The following individuals have been selected for this year’s program:

• Craig L. Adams Jr. – Vaughn C. Greene Funeral Service, Baltimore, Maryland
• Christopher Boggs – MacNabb Funeral Home, Catonsville, Maryland
• Makenzie Briggs – Roeder Mortuaries, Omaha, Nebraska
• Jessica Cespedes – Patrick T. Lanigan Funeral Home and Crematory, Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania
• Simone Coplin – Hanson-Runsvold Funeral Home, Fargo, North Dakota
• Lydia D'Atri – Thomas McAfee Funeral Home Greenville, South Carolina
• Peyton Davis – Smith Family Funeral Homes – Little Rock Chapel, Little Rock, Arkansas
• Sarah Beth Drake – Cantlon Otterness & Viets Funeral Home, Buffalo, Missouri
• Amanda Earl – Phaneuf Funeral Homes & Crematorium, Manchester, New Hampshire
• Gregory Fountain – Newcomer Funeral Service Group, Orlando, Florida
• Jayme Fuscaldo – Jersey Memorial Group, Old Bridge, New Jersey
• Hanna McClellan – Howe-Peterson Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Taylor, Michigan
• Haisten Murphree – Glover Funeral Home, Dothan, Alabama
• Shelby Ogozaly – Perman Funeral Home & Cremation Service, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• David Pryor – Piper Funeral Home, St. Marys, Kansas
• Stephen Rios – Altmeyer Funeral Home, Virginia Beach, Virginia
• Aiyanna Rivera – Pollock-Randall Funeral Home, Port Huron, Michigan
• Jason Sertich – Wenig Funeral Homes, Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin
• Tina Spedden – Lee Funeral Home, Owings, Maryland
• Loran Spence – Carmon Community Funeral Homes, Windsor, Connecticut
• Jarell Springfield – Calumet Park Funeral Chapel, Merrillville, Indiana
• Nicholas Todd – Stewart Baxter Funeral & Memorial Services, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
• Amy Trigoura – Fred Hunter's, Funeral Home, Crematory & Cemetery, Davie, Florida
• Anna Urciuoli – Leo P. Gallagher & Son Funeral Home, Greenwich, Connecticut
• Gary T. Whitley Jr. – Nelms Memorial Funeral Home, Huntsville, Alabama

An Unparalleled Mentorship and Advocacy Experience

The 2025 Meet the Mentors program will feature three renowned funeral service leaders, who will share insights, career guidance and expertise with the mentees through interactive roundtable discussions and networking opportunities:

• Dr. Camelia Clarke – Co-owner of Paradise Memorial Funeral & Cremation Services and Leon L. Williamson Funeral Home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A past president of the Wisconsin Funeral Directors Association, she is also an NFDA Spokesperson Team member and actively engaged in her local community.
• Lori Sheeler – General Manager of Wilson-St. Pierre Funeral Service & Crematory in Greenwood, Indiana. She has served in key leadership roles, including Vice Chair of the Indiana Funeral Education Foundation and District 7 Director for the Indiana Funeral Directors Association.
• Tim Schramm – Owner and CEO of Howe-Peterson Funeral Homes in Michigan. He is a recognized expert in funeral service management and mass fatality response, currently leading the Michigan Mortuary Response Team (MI-MORT) and serving on the Funeral Service Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

Additionally, mentees will participate in NFDA’s Advocacy Summit, where they will meet with Members of Congress to discuss key issues affecting funeral service professionals and the families they serve. This hands-on experience will provide mentees with an inside look at the legislative process and the critical role advocacy plays in shaping the future of the profession.

For more information about Meet the Mentors, visit NFDA.org/Mentors or contact NFDA at (800) 228-6332.

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