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For Immediate Release: March 12, 2025

Brookfield, Wis. – The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) Leadership Development Committee has announced the slate of qualified candidates for open positions on the NFDA Board of Directors.

Officer Candidates

Qualified NFDA members will elect officers via an electronic ballot from June 12-25, 2025. Those elected will serve a one-year term beginning after the 2025 NFDA International Convention & Expo. The individual elected as president-elect will automatically assume the role of president following the 2026 NFDA Convention.

The candidates for officer positions are:

• President-elect:
  • Chris E. Christian, CFSP, CCO – Christian-Sells Funeral Home, Rogersville, Tennessee
• Treasurer:  
  • Steven Spann, CFSP, CCO – Spann Funeral Home, Dickson, Tennessee
• Secretary:  
  • Homer E. Elwood Jr., CFSP, CCO – Gray Funeral Home Inc., Clinton, South Carolina
  • Ellen Wynn McBrayer, CFSP, CPC, CCO – Jones-Wynn Funeral Home & Crematory, Villa Rica, Georgia

Chris E. Christian	Steven Spann	Homer E. Elwood Jr.	Ellen Wynn McBrayer

At-Large Representative Candidates

During the NFDA Leadership Conference, August 3-6 in Napa, California, state association representatives will elect two at-large representatives to the Board of Directors. Each elected representative will serve a two-year term beginning after the 2025 NFDA Convention. State association representatives are the voting representatives from each state who cast the votes on behalf of their state for the at-large representatives on the NFDA Board of Directors.

The candidates for at-large representative positions are:  

• Carlos D. Black – Small’s Mortuary and Cremation Services, Mobile, Alabama
• Christopher Costello – Mothe Funeral Homes LLC, New Orleans, Louisiana

Carlos D. Black	Christopher Costello

Get to Know the Candidates

NFDA members are encouraged to visit NFDA.org/Elections to view candidate profiles and stay up to date on election details.

To ensure all eligible members receive voting credentials and important election communications, NFDA must have accurate contact information for all licensed funeral directors at member firms, including:

• The name and unique email address of the primary contact (must be a licensed funeral director)
• The names and unique email addresses of all licensed funeral directors at the firm

Members can verify or update their contact details by:

• Calling their NFDA Member Services Representative at 800-228-6332
• Updating their profile at NFDA.org/My-Profile

NFDA is the world’s leading and largest funeral service association, serving 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 NFDA.org. 

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