Dan Isard is no stranger to the funeral and cemetery industry. Since 1985, Dan has developed his skills and reputation to provide financial and managerial consulting for owners of specialty industries, with the bulk of his time spent providing services to funeral home and cemetery owners, managers & directors.
He has performed more than 2,000 valuations of funeral homes and more than 500 valuations of cemeteries throughout North America and the United Kingdom. He has been involved in helping more than 500 people acquire or transfer their funeral home or cemetery. He has also operated more than 30 funeral homes and cemeteries on behalf of the owner, a state government, or a lender in possession for some period of time. He has consulted with specialty insurance companies in the preneed and final expense market and annually rates these companies for his publication.
FuneralReview.Com
course: CREMATION – What Every Funeral Director & Cemeterian Should Know.
Ann Bastianelli is President
and CEO of Anthology Consulting, and an expert
in interpreting trends in corporate and consumer
behavior, determining what is possible, probable,
and preferable for marketers and consumers alike.
For 25 years, Ann’s distinguished career
has included leadership positions in a variety
of industries, including college athletics, advertising,
marketing, product innovation and personal performance. A
member of Who’s Who in Marketing, Ann has
advised some of the world’s most admired
organizations and personalities, including Leo
Burnett, McDonald’s, Kellogg’s, Kraft,
DowBrands, Franklin-Covey, Indiana University,
IKON Office Solutions, Hillenbrand Industries,
and basketball coaching legend, Bob Knight. Notably,
Ann’s marketing legacy includes work on
timeless consumer campaigns such as ‘2
Scoops of Raisins’ for Kellogg’s
Raisin Bran, The talking Parkay Margarine tub,
Happy Meals and Ronald McDonald advertising,
Ziploc, Saran Wrap, and Dow Bathroom Cleaner’s
Scrubbing Bubbles.
Dr. Vanderlyn R. Pine entered funeral service in 1957, graduated from the American Academy of Funeral Service in 1959, and assumed the management of his family’s funeral home. In 1970, Dr. Pine was appointed as the Management Consultant for the National Funeral Directors Association, a position he held until 1985. Also in 1970, he became a college professor with special expertise in Sociological Research Methods, Statistical Analysis, and the Sociology of Death.
Dr. Pine began publishing articles on funeral home evaluation and financial management in the early 1970s in the American Funeral Director and NFDA’s The Director. Over the years he has authored, edited, and contributed to a number of books on funeral service, and has given hundreds of featured speeches, lectures, and seminars on funeral home evaluation, management, pricing, mergers and consolidation, and other related subjects for numerous funeral director associations and groups in the United States and Canada.
FuneralReview.Com courses: Personnel Management in Funeral Service Understanding and Managing Grief
Gary O'Sullivan, CCE . is
President of a unique strategic consulting company
specializing within the cemetery and funeral profession.
Using his PrinciplePower concepts he assists his
client firms in developing critical processes to
positively impact their company’s performance.
Gary uses his experience as a senior-level executive
and over thirty years of business development to
move his consulting client’s organizations
to new levels of performance.
Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D. is an internationally noted author, educator and grief counselor. He serves as Director of the Center for Loss and Life Transition and is on the faculty at the University of Colorado Medical School's Department of Family Medicine.
Past recipient of the Association of Death Education and Counseling's Death Educator Award, Dr. Wolfelt is an educational consultant to hospices, hospitals, schools, universities, funeral homes and a variety of community agencies across North America. Perhaps best known for his model of "companioning" versus treating the bereaved, Alan is committed to helping people mourn well so they can live well and love well.
FuneralReview.Com course: Understanding
and Creating Exceptional Funeral Experiences
Glenn H. Gould, III, M.S. is CEO of MKJ Marketing. He draws on twenty years experience as an executive and consultant with several Fortune 500 companies including the Batesville Casket Company.
Glenn works closely with the management of Wilbert, Inc., in consumer research, and marketing. He consults insurance companies in the development of pre-need insurance products. In funeral service, Glenn conducts market research studies and site selection studies for new facilities and assists clients in the development of marketing and advertising plans.
Glenn is a recognized speaker and his articles appear regularly in funeral service publications. Glenn holds B.A. and M.S. degrees.
FuneralReview.Com course: Marketing
a Funeral Home for Long Term Profitability Deathcare Marketing - 25 FAQs
Nicole “Nikki” McQueen was born in Quincy, MA and grew up in historic Plymouth, MA. She received her degrees in photography and advertising from Endicott College in MA.
Nikki spent the last twelve years in the title insurance industry as a Marketing Representative for one of the nation’s largest insurers. Her primarily role included developing new business opportunities; creating innovative marketing concepts for a highly competitive market; and maintaining customer loyalty among existing clientele. Nikki was consistently recognized as a top producer for this Fortune 300 Company receiving numerous awards each year for both production as well as customer service.
FuneralReview.Com course: Profits by Pleasure - Innovative Ways of Delivering Exceptional Customer Service
John McQueen is a native of St. Petersburg, FL and received his B.A. in Business Administration from St. Leo’s University in St. Leo, FL. Seeing the changing trends in funeral service, he is currently working on his MBA with a specialization in Hospitality Management.
John serves as the Chief Operations Officer for his family-owned firm, Anderson-McQueen Funeral & Cremation Centers. He also serves as President of both Sunnyside Cemetery and Affordable Memorials.
John has been actively involved in many professional organizations, having served as president of the Florida Funeral Directors Association; board member of the Funeral & Cemetery Alliance of Florida; state representative on the Policy Board for the National Funeral Directors Association; and most recently as Ambassador for the Academy of Professional Funeral Service Practice. His strong belief in the need for continuous improvement as a professional led him to found FuneralReview.Com, the nation’s leading on-line continuing education provider for funeral service. He also serves as an adjunct instructor for the Funeral Services Program at St. Petersburg College.
FuneralReview.Com course: Profits by Pleasure - Innovative Ways of Delivering Exceptional Customer Service
John S. “Jay” Rhodes III is a third generation funeral director. His education includes an A.A. degree from St. Petersburg Junior College (SPJC)-Clearwater Campus (Now St. Petersburg College) in 1968, a B.A. from the University of South Florida in 1970, and an A.S. in Mortuary Science from Miami-Dade Community College-North Campus (Now Miami Dade College) in 1973. He established Rhodes Funeral Directors, P.A. in 1976. In 1991 he sold the business and managed it for the Loewen Group until 1995 when he joined The Dodge Company as their representative in West and South Florida. He was the first embalming instructor at SPJC, serving for four years.
Mr. Rhodes is a past president of the Academy of Professional Funeral Service Practice and past president of the Florida Funeral Directors Association. He has presented programs and seminars for NFDA, FFDA, IFDA, FMA, the Georgia Academy of Graduate Embalmers, and the British Institute of Embalmers, as well as numerous other local funeral director organizations.
Todd W. Van Beck is one of the funeral profession's most prolific authors and presenters. From simple staff development at the smallest funeral home to clergy seminars to keynote addresses at the largest of gatherings, Mr. Van Beck tailors each presentation to suit any occassion.
Todd W. Van Beck has written over 200 articles and 65 books and manuals covering every possible topic of interest to funeral directors, cemeterians and clergy. His extensive training and experience spans over 35 years at every level of the funeral and cemetery profession and the church.
Mr. Van Beck has studied the theory of quality control under Dr. W. Edwards Deming and has applied those principals to the funeral and cemetery profession. Now, as a specialist in the "Deming" management system, he offers seminars catered to your needs based on these theories. He also offers private consultation, expert witness testimony and consultation with special embalming problems.
James
H. Justice was born
in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains
in North Carolina. He was born to a family of
farmers and saw millers.
He became interested in the funeral profession
while in high school and working part-time for
the local funeral home. Some of his first duties
were making ambulance calls and assisting in the
preparation room. Upon moving to Florida, he immediately
became affiliated with a local funeral home.
In addition to being a licensed funeral director
and embalmer for over forty years in Florida,
Jim is also a qualified Mass Fatality Coordinator
and a continuing education provider.
FuneralReview.Com course: Hazard
Communication in Funeral Service Communicable Disease
Pre-Smart's owner and developer, Suzanne Turkiewicz Elkins, has extensive experience, over 13 years, in direct death care sales to families, pre-need management, multi-location management and product development, having represented the largest funeral funding company in the U.S.
She has her M.B.A. in marketing and finance, which aided in the analytical development and implementation of the system.
Patrick is a third generation funeral director in his family. Growing up in his family’s business, he began assisting his grandfather at the funeral home when he was seven. Patrick worked for the family business until he relocated to Florida in 1998. Patrick and his wife, Kelly, reside in Belleair, Florida. He is a member of Grace Christian Fellowship in Largo.
Patrick co-authoring of this course has provided the "real life", technical funeral applications to the scientific knowledge that Dr. Michael O'Neal has developed making this course a must for everyone in the funeral profession."
Funeral Review course: HIV/AIDS:
A Funeral Practitioner's Guide to Occupational
Exposure
Carol Goward was born in Quincy, MA, and received her B.S. in Business from Franklin Pierce College, earned the Certified Financial Planning degree from the College of Financial Planning in Denver, and is also Certified in Gerontology from NHTI in NH.
For over 20 years, Carol has written and taught various courses to students of all ages on quality customer service, financial and retirement planning, improving your memory, and developing public speaking skills. She has coached all ages, in many walks of life, to improve their public speaking skills in different venues.
Carol has been recognized as a mentor in the public speaking field who consistently teaches the techniques of comfortable public speaking in a knowledgeable and effective way. Her method of self-evaluation and building your own public speaking tool box has helped persons from many fields find success and a comfort zone that previously was unimaginable. She is known for helping others find their own voice.
Funeral Review course: Public Speaking - Comfortably
Tim O'Brien, M.S. and C.H.P.T. (Instructional Systems and Human Performance, FSU), is a Fellow with The American Institute of Stress, and director of The Institute for Stress Management & Performance Improvement. He was also a columnist with the Knight Ridder Tribune News Service, which later became McClatchy Tribune Information, for 14 years.
He wrote a twice-a-month Life Styles column for over 250 newspapers, he has published more than 350 articles in national newspapers and magazines, and has been quoted in magazines such as Men's Health and American Health, as well as CNNMoney.com. He has presented seminars for corporations and associations, including FFDA and NFDA, throughout North America and abroad.
Funeral Review course: Grief Management - The Role of the Funeral Service Practitioner
Doug Manning
Someone has said that communicators are rare . . . and Doug Manning is well done. He blends humor with insight to produce a meaningful seminar presentation experience. He has been featured in national conferences and conventions throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
His bookings are wide-ranging and as varied as being a keynote speaker at the World Gathering Bereavement Conference to conducting an intimate staff training of 20 people at a hospice in Arkansas. He has authored 30 books and produced over 25 audio and video products in the areas of grief and elder care. He has worked with professionals and families in the Oklahoma City bombing, Jonesboro and Fort Worth shootings and the World Trade Center and Pentagon tragedies of 9/11.
As a counselor, lecturer and author, Doug Manning addresses the subjects of grief, aging and personal relationships across the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Funeral Review course: The Funeral - Putting the Funeral Director Back into the Funeral
CREMATION – What Every Funeral Director & Cemeterian Should Know.
