November 2022

Page A24 November 2022 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A Call: 661-250-1507 • Visit: www.XLIndustries.com Available Through Quality Suppliers Made in USA Unique items found only at xl industries Providing the Best-Designed Tools for Your Services Since 1926. Dozens of products that give you years of service and store compactly when not in use. Lightweight and easy to take to gravesides or churches. Pole Rack with Shelves extends from the floor to the ceiling Combo Expansion “B” Rack “J” Casket Floral Rack Sets down on top of casket Platform Shelf O-1 additional display surface for many XL large stands On-Line AssOciAte Degree in FunerAL service 1616 Church Street | Nashville, TN 37203 615-327-3927 | www.guptoncollege.edu For information concerning cost and program call 615-327-3927, go to our website at guptoncollege.edu or email admissions@guptoncollege.edu. If you are interested in becoming a licensed funeral professional, John A. Gupton College can help you get there. The Associate Degree in Funeral Service is an accredited program. Our online program is flexible, career-focused and may be completed in 12 or 16 months. Financial Aid is available. The Fan Man, Inc. Fans Calendars Urns Register Books Dresses Advertising Specialties John Mannion “WhatEver You Need” 1-800-671-8280 Cell: 803-417-2940 Thefanman@comporium.net bankersadvertising.com/thefanman Carriage Services Announces Departure of Ben Brink, Executive Vice President & CFO Introducing Miami Jewish Funerals, The Most Recent Addition to Jewish Funeral Group CORAL GABLES,FL— Jewish Funeral Group, a shiva.com partner, continues its expansion with the launch of MiamiJewishFunerals.com. The resource for Jewish funerals provides comprehensive support, education, and information for people seeking to understand traditions and choose the rituals appropriate for them when planning. Miami is home to one of the largest Jewish populations in the United States, with more than 120,000 Jewish people. MiamiJewishFunerals.com is the go-to resource for families in need of information and services such as education regarding funeral and shiva rituals, pre-planning and at-need planning, and community support. Dedicated to ensuring a comprehensive offering of Jewish funeral and burial traditions is available to everyone, Miami Jewish Funerals has partnered with Vista Funeral Home, a StoneMor Inc. property, and local community organizations, in addition to Jewish Funeral Group’s strategic partnerships with shiva.com and others. “Miami Jewish Funerals helps families honor loved ones in the ways most meaningful to each family,” said Michael Schimmel, the founder and CEO of Sympathy Brands. “Together with the Jewish Funeral Group network and shiva.com, we are able to provide families holistic education and support services navigating end-of-life matters.” MiamiJewishFunerals.com selected Vista Funeral Home as a partner with great care based on its reputation “Partnering with Sympathy Brands to offer Miami Jewish Funerals allows us to expand our services and offerings to our families in the Miami area,” said Joe Redling, CEO of StoneMor Inc. Jewish Funeral Group is a national organization bringing local communities together. It integrates with shiva.com, National Jewish Memorial Wall, and local organizations to help with mourning customs, such as meals of comfort for shiva, and honoring and commemorating the deceased. In 2021, Jewish Funeral Group launched in Jacksonville, Orlando, and Daytona with planned expansion to dozens of locations throughout the remainder of 2022 and 2023. For more information, please visit JewishFuneralGroup.com. Sympathy Brands is the parent company for JewishFuneralGroup.com, shiva.com, eCondolence.com, SympathyBrands.com, Cemetery.com and others. The company mission is to support families and industry experts through all stages of end-of-life matters™ with its trusted marketplace, leading technology and highly curated network of strategic partners. To learn more, visit SympathyBrands.com. StoneMor Inc, headquartered in Bensalem, PA is an owner and operator of cemeteries and funeral homes in the United States, with 301 cemeteries and 69 funeral homes in 24 states and Puerto Rico. For additional information about StoneMor, visit StoneMor’s website at www.stonemor.com. and leading family care. In addition to its rich community relationships, Vista Funeral Home offers a range of services in accordance with longstanding Jewish traditions. HOUSTON,TX— Carriage Services, Inc. (NYSE: CSV) has announced the departure of Ben Brink, Executive Vice President and CFO. Mel Payne, Chairman and CEO, and Ben Brink issued the following statement: “On June 2, 2021, I issued a press release announcing the formation of a Strategic Vision and Principles Group (SVPG) comprised of myself as Chairman, Ben Brink, SteveMetzger andCarlos Quezada.This new subset of our Executive Leadership Team represented the first step toward a long-term Chairman and CEO Succession Plan, and Ben, Steve and Carlos were promoted and assumed new responsibilities and duties. Ben has now chosen to leave Carriage, which both he and I explain fully below is on the best of terms and at a time when Carriage is rapidly improving in almost all areas of the company both in field operations, sales and support teams, and having new high quality acquisition opportunities for expansion into new strategic markets. Ben asked to visit privately with me on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, during which he expressed his love and respect for the noble nature of our work, our leaders and employees at all levels, our company and for me personally. But after thirteen years of growth and development under my mentorship, he felt the company should have a new financial leader in his SVPG seat, which would enable him at age 41 years to make his career mark at a different company using the leadership skills and knowledge gained at Carriage. Ben has agreed to stay at Carriage in a transition role through year-end 2022 while we initiate a search for his replacement, and to be available in a consulting role through June 30, 2023, which will be especially valuable after we find and onboard his replacement. After reflecting on Ben’s decision to strike out on his own with a new opportunity, I first expressed to him and subsequently to various internal groups of leaders and employees my personal thoughts and feelings, as follows: After I took over sole responsibility for our trust funds during the financial system credit crisis and market crash in late 2008 and early 2009, I looked around our company for anyone who could assist me, and spotted this young 27-year-old guy, Ben Brink, who had just joined Carriage as a cash manager. After working with Ben during the worst of this market crisis, I personally took Ben as a mentor high potential growth project. But even I could not have then imagined the personal and professional growth that he would achieve over the last thirteen years in all areas of sophisticated corporate finance and investing, but more importantly the increasingly valuable contributions he would make to Carriage through his outstanding leadership over the years. In a very personal way, Ben is the closest I have come in my long career to having my son work for me, just without my last name. I pride myself on having become a self-taught professional investor over the last thirty years, and I have made some spectacularly successful investments in our trust funds since 2008. But my greatest investment, and there isn’t a close second, is in Ben Brink, and he’s by far the investment for which I’m most proud. Whoever gets the benefit of his leadership and knowledge in the future will be lucky indeed. I said in the June 2, 2021 press release that it would be an understatement to say that over the last twelve years (now thirteen) Ben has gained the equivalent of a Harvard/ Columbia MBA as my ‘Battle Tested and Fully Vested Foxhole Buddy’ through several major transition phases of Carriage. But often there comes a time when someone who has been mentored like a son wants to leave the protective umbrella you have created and make his own path in life and business. That is the way nature works, and it is good,” concluded Mel Payne. Ben Brink stated, “It has been the honor of my life to be the Chief Financial Officer at Carriage Services. Over the past thirteen years at Carriage, I have been beyond blessed to work with and be mentored by Mel and to be a part of building the High Performance Culture Company that Carriage is today. I have come to truly appreciate our industry and I have a profound admiration for the noble work that is done each and every day by the amazingly talented and dedicated teams here at Carriage. While these decisions are never easy, I know that it is what is best for myself and for Carriage and I only have a tremendous feeling of gratitude for Mel and the entire Carriage family for allowing me to be a part of this incredible journey. I have tremendous confidence in the future of this great company and as a continued longterm shareholder, I know that the best is yet to come at Carriage!” said Ben Brink. “Effective today, our search for Ben’s replacement has begun. On behalf of all of my fellow Carriage leaders, employees and Board Members, I wish Ben and his beautiful wife Hillary and their two precious children the very best in the future. They have been very important members of the Carriage family for over thirteen years and will remain “Emeritus Members of the Carriage Family” forever as they embark on the next chapter of their lives,” concluded Payne. Send Us Your News! We welcome news of the industry. info@NomisPublications.com PO Box 5159, Youngstown, OH 44514 CALL 1-800-321-7479 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS www.vischerfuneralsupplies.com

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