NFDA Announces 2017 Election Results

Kenneth A. Cahall to lead association as 2017-18 president

Brookfield, Wis. – The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) is pleased to announce that qualified association members have elected the following individuals to serve as officers on the 2017-18 Board of Directors: President-elect Charles “Chuck” T. Bowman, CMSP, CFSP, CCO; Treasurer R. Bryant Hightower Jr., CFSP; and Secretary Randall P. “Randy” Anderson, CFSP, CCO. The 2017-18 NFDA Board of Directors will be led by President Kenneth A. Cahall, CFSP, CCO.

The officers serve one-year terms of office that begin following the 2017 NFDA International Convention & Expo in Boston.

2016-17 NFDA President W. Ashley Cozine, CFSP, CPC, CCO, will continue his service on the Board with a one-year term as immediate past president that commences at the end of the 2017 NFDA Convention.

Continuing his service on the Board of Directors is At-large Representative John “Jack” O. Mitchell IV, CFSP, CCO (2016-18). He will be joined by At-large Representatives Pasquale S. Folino, CFSP, CCO (2017-19), and Douglas “Dutch” R. Nie II, CFSP, CCO (2017-19), who were elected by the Policy Board in July 2017.

The NFDA Policy Board will hold a special election during its meeting on October 28, 2017, to elect a fourth at-large representative who will complete the second year of an unexpired two-year term of service resulting from the recent resignation of Peter B. “Butch” Mulhearn Jr.

In the 2017 NFDA Officer Elections, Bowman, Hightower and Anderson ran unopposed. During the month of August, 781 eligible members voted for the individuals they believed should serve as officers on the NFDA Board of Directors. The Policy Board is responsible for electing at-large representatives.

 

Proposed Bylaws Changes

Along with electing officers to serve on the Board of Directors, qualified association members were also responsible for voting on a package of proposed enhancements to the NFDA Bylaws. The proposal passed with 93.88% of members voting in favor changing the bylaws.

During the 2015 NFDA International Convention & Expo, the association enacted a new governance structure. Part of this change included combining NFDA’s Constitution and Bylaws into a single, new comprehensive governing document: the NFDA Bylaws. The new NFDA Bylaws were fully-implemented last year and, this package of enhancements was intended to strengthen and clarify the document.

In order for the package of enhancements to pass, two-thirds of those who voted on the NFDA Bylaws question needed to cast a “yes” vote affirming the changes.

Information about the NFDA Election, including biographical 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 19,700 individual members who represent more than 10,000 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.