April 10-13, 2024
Tampa Marriott Water Street & Tampa Convention Center
Tampa, Florida
2024 ICCFA Board of Directors Elections
Meet the Candidates Who Are Running for the ICCFA 2024 Board of Directors
Electing new board members to serve the association is one of the active responsibilities of membership, and we are privileged to have a talented slate of members who want to actively participate in the future of ICCFA. In accordance with the ICCFA Bylaws, six (6) Regular members shall be elected to serve a term of three (3) years and one (1) Professional/Supplier member shall be elected to serve a term of two (2) years.
Online voting will take place on the AssociationVoting.com secure voting platform. The primary contact for all active ICCFA Regular members will receive an email on Thursday, March 7, indicating their voting eligibility, which will be followed by an email from AssociationVoting.com that will contain their voting credentials and the link to the voting platform. Voting will remain open until the 2024 ICCFA Member of Members, which is taking place at the 2024 ICCFA Annual Convention & Expo held at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, FL on Thursday, April 11 at 12 pm EST.
Regular Member Applicants
Liza Altenburg
Sales Manager, Park Lawn Corporation
Liza joined the deathcare profession in 2017. Her motivation to enter this field stemmed from the unexpected loss of her father in 2015. Witnessing the importance of advanced planning in sparing families from the emotional burden she faced made her resolute in her dedication to profession. In addition to her tenure in the deathcare industry, she brings over two decades of sales and training expertise to the table. Her multifaceted background equips her with a unique perspective on how to blend modern sales and marketing strategies with the sensitivities and demands of the deathcare sector.
John Bolton, CCE, CCrE, CSE, CXE
VP of Operations for Development, Park Lawn Corporation
You may know him as a competition BBQ icon, but John Bolton is an industry thought leader currently living and working in San Jose, California. His areas of focus are cemetery development, education, and the customer experience. John started his experience in the deathcare profession in 1988 and has worked from the grounds to the rank of president. He is experienced in everything cemetery including operations, sales, and maintenance. As a cemetery development professional, he has worked with over 90 different clients in North America and has designed and implemented over 1200 development projects. John currently serves Park Lawn Corporation as vice president for operations and development, focusing on driving revenue to the top line for over 300 properties in the US and Canada.
Janis Diamond
Market Director, Dignity Memorial
Janis is a Dedicated Market Director with exceptional operational leadership within the Dignity Memorial Network. She has a consistent record of accomplishments while managing locations with shifts in sales mix and volume due to local competition and ever-changing consumer preferences. A respected leader of customer and employee-focused teams, she fosters an atmosphere of inclusion among team members with an enthusiastic commitment to customer service and experience. She is skilled at identifying key people on the team to grow and develop within the organization while coaching them with their teams to show marked growth of our targets.
Lindsay Granson
Senior VP of Sales and Marketing, Everstory Partners
Lindsay Granson is an accomplished, seasoned executive sales and operations leader with proven expertise across sales and marketing, people operations, and operational functions. She is a recognized turnaround specialist, leading teams and operations through new, ambiguous situations and forging a path to successful results. As a performance-driven professional, Lindsay leverages her experience and expertise within sales and marketing to advance operations and deliver positive outcomes across all business functions. Lindsay thinks that coming into the industry seven years ago from a different area has given her a fresh perspective to bring to the table.
Trey Hall
Funeral Director, Gentry Morrison Funeral Homes & Serenity Gardens
Trey has served as a licensed insurance pre-need agent, and licensed funeral director and embalmer since 2003 at his family’s multi-location funeral homes in Lakeland, Florida. He is the general manager of their cemetery, Serenity Gardens, and has served in every area of the business, including assisting with acquisition, and funeral home construction. Currently he assists the State of Florida’s Funeral, Cemetery & Consumer Services division as the chair of one of the Probable Cause panels for state governance of the profession.
John Newcomer
President, Newcomer Funeral Service Group
John currently serves as President of his family’s company, Newcomer Funeral Service Group. He joined the company in 2012 as an Apprentice Funeral Director in Louisville, Kentucky, before serving as Manager of their funeral homes in the Louisville area. In 2021 he succeeded his father as President of the company. He is a licensed funeral director in Kentucky and Kansas. Prior to joining the family business, he was a CPA with KPMG’s Chicago office.
Kyle Nikola
Managing Partner, Fidelity Memorial Group
Kyle is the Managing Partner for more than 34 funeral homes and cemeteries across five states, working daily within all aspects of the business. He is a former ICCFA Board of Director and member of the Next Gen Committee and is currently a member of the Government & Legal Committee. Kyle is a Past President of the Georgia Cemetery Association and Southern Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association and is a regular attendee of ICCFA events, always looking for opportunities to be involved and make a difference.
Kirk Roberts
Owner, American Cemetery Services LLP and Roberts Funeral Homes Inc.
Kirk is partners with his brothers as second generation cemeterians and licensed funeral directors. He grew up in the cemetery working in the grounds from age 14 through two summers in college. He became a part-time family service counselor at age 19 and a full-time counselor upon graduation in 1988. He worked his way through the sales department as a counselor, trainer, and manager. After a restructuring he transitioned into the cemetery operations, responsible for the acquisition of 14 cemeteries in 2001 and managed 19 cemeteries through 2013. He then became the director of sales and marketing for 11 cemeteries, three of which were cemetery/funeral home combinations. In 2019 Kirk took over most of the cemetery operations along with the sales and marketing of nine cemeteries, five of which are cemetery/funeral home combinations and two pet cemeteries.
Stanley “Stan” Stobierski
President, Heritage Memory Mortuary & Cemetery
Stan earned his BA in Accounting and then went on to graduate from American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service in 1973, followed by a master’s in nursing home administration & financial management. He is licensed Funeral Director in New York and Arizona, and a licensed embalmer in Arizona. He served two terms as President of the Arizona Funeral Directors Association. Presently he owns nine funeral homes, five cemeteries, and four crematories. He is proud to have his two daughters and two grandchildren working in the family business.
Professional Supplier Applicants
Tony Armogida
VP of Strategic Account Development, Global Atlantic Financial Group
Tony has been in the deathcare profession for over a decade. He began his journey within Global Atlantic as a processor in the capital funding department. Over the years he’s held multiple positions, which helped him take a struggling territory and turn it into one of the most thriving pre-need territories within his organization. His mission is to leave the deathcare industry in a better place than he found it, to shed light on this often-misunderstood profession, and to help people in our field become the best versions of themselves. He isn’t just passionate about death; he’s determined to breathe new life into funeral service through innovative ideas, collaboration, and a dash of humor.
Erin Creger
Chief Sales Officer, Envision Strategic Partners
As Chief Sales Officer and co-owner of Envision Strategic Partners, Erin offers a comprehensive and distinguished background within the industry. Her commitment lies in driving growth, fostering meaningful relationships, and consistently achieving exceptional outcomes for funeral homes and cemeteries. Her expertise lies in all aspects of sales operations, including recruitment, onboarding, training, and developing high performing sales teams. She possesses a deep understanding of the sales processes, tools and programs required to build a long-term and sustainable funeral and cemetery preneed program. She is the co-founder and chair of the Death Care Collective; a group with the sole purpose of connecting, supporting and inspiring women within the profession.
Kevin Gaffney
Regional Sales Vice President, Funeral Director’s Life Insurance Company
Kevin has more than 30 years of calling on funeral homes and cemeteries as a supplier and spent four years at Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum as Director of Sales. He worked primarily with preneed insurance but also represented software, audio visual solutions, accounting, lending, and trust services. He has been a licensed crematory operator for over 20 years. He has provided consulting for succession planning for multiple family-owned businesses and spent two years covering the entire U.S. for Forethought National Trust Bank calling on cemeteries. He has held a leadership position for the past 17+ years with a multi-billion-dollar preneed insurance company.