Bryant Hightower to lead association as 2019-20 president

For Immediate Release: April 29, 2019

Brookfield, Wis. – The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) is pleased to announce the following individuals have been elected by acclamation to serve as officers on the 2019-20 Board of Directors: President-elect Randall P. “Randy" Anderson, CFSP, CCO; Treasurer John O. "Jack" Mitchell, IV, CFSP, CCO, CCSP; and Secretary Douglas R. "Dutch" Nie II, CFSP, CCO. The 2019-20 NFDA Board of Directors will be led by President R. Bryant Hightower Jr., CFSP. The officers will serve one-year terms of office that begin following the 2019 NFDA International Convention & Expo in Chicago.

During its April 2019 meeting, the NFDA Board of Directors received a report from the Leadership Development Committee confirming that only one individual was nominated for each of the three officer positions. Because each candidate for the three officer positions ran unopposed, the Board exercised its right to record in its minutes that, in accordance with Section C.8 of Article VIII of the NFDA Bylaws, each is hereby elected by the members to take their respective offices at the close of the 2019 Convention. Given that the officers were elected by acclamation and there are no other matters at this time that need to be voted on by members, there will be no NFDA election in August.

Current NFDA President Charles T. “Chuck” Bowman, CMSP, 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 2019 NFDA Convention.

Continuing their service on the Board of Directors are At-large Representatives Christopher P. Robinson, CFSP, CCO (2018-20), and John W. Wenig (2018-20).

During their meeting in July, the NFDA Policy Board will elect two individuals to serve as at-large representatives alongside Robinson and Wenig. The successful candidates will serve two-year terms (2019-21) that commence following the 2019 NFDA Convention. The at-large representative candidates are:

• Linda L. Allan, Allan & Ciuferi Funeral Home, Collinsville, Ill.
• Daniel J. Ford, CFSP, CCSP, Alderson-Ford Funeral Homes Inc., Cheshire, Conn.
• Beatrice E. “Bea” Lewanduski, CFSP, D'Andrea Brothers Funeral Home, Copiague, N.Y.

Information about the officers elected to serve on the Board of Directors, can be found on the NFDA website, www.nfda.org/vote.

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