NFDA Meet the Mentors Program Returns in March 2014

Funeral directors under 40, enter for your chance to participate today

Brookfield, Wis. – The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) is giving young funeral professionals another opportunity to learn from three of the profession’s top funeral directors and network with like-minded peers. NFDA’s sixth Meet the Mentors event will take place March 17-18 at Emory Conference Center Hotel, which is located on the campus of Emory University, in Atlanta, Ga. Meet the Mentors is held in cooperation with the Funeral Service Foundation.

During Meet the Mentors, 50 licensed funeral directors and embalmers under the age of 40 will have an opportunity to meet, learn from and talk with three of the country’s leading funeral professionals.

• Carey Bliley is president of Bliley Funeral Homes, which has several locations in Richmond, Va. He helped in his family’s business since he was a child, and formally joined the staff in 1999.
• F. Daniel “Dan” Moloney Jr. is president and co-owner of Moloney Family Funeral Homes, which operates six funeral home locations in Suffolk County, New York; Affordable Cremation Services of New York; and the Nassau-Suffolk Crematory. He has worked in funeral service for more than a decade and is very active within the profession.
• Dana Jones Wynn is the president and CEO of Jones-Wynn Funeral Home and Crematory, which has two locations, Villa Rica and Douglasville, Ga. A second-generation funeral director, Wynn also oversees Meadowbrook Memory Gardens and a newly added crematory.

During the program, each mentor will give a presentation during which they share lessons they have learned while building successful and fulfilling careers in funeral service. Following a panel discussion featuring Bliley, Moloney and Wynn, participants will have an opportunity to personally engage with each mentor in small group discussions.

Participants in the March and August 2013 Meet the Mentors event offered the following comments about the program:

•  “I really enjoyed meeting funeral professionals in my age range. I got just as much information from the mentors as I did from visiting with the other attendees.”
• “The information I received was life-changing. What a great program geared toward the future of funeral service.”
• “Meet the Mentors not only provided innovative information for me to utilize and bring home to my business, but also created an invaluable networking opportunity, which set the groundwork for lasting friendships and lifelong business relationships.”
• “The mentors and attendees gave me great hope for the future of funeral service as well as great ideas for my personal and professional growth. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!”

There is no cost to participate in the Meet the Mentors program itself; the 50 individuals selected to attend only pay for their transportation to the program. The cost of the registration fee, access to the three mentors, one night of lodging, a reception and dinner the night before the program, and continental breakfast and lunch the day of the program – a $699 value – has been generously covered through a grant from the Funeral Service Foundation.

The names of the 50 participants will be randomly drawn from among all who enter via the NFDA website, www.nfda.org/mentors. Entries will be accepted through midnight January 24, 2014. Entrants must be NFDA members in good standing, licensed funeral directors and/or embalmers, and under 40 years of age.

The names of the 50 participants will be drawn the week of January 27 from among all entries received. Each day, Monday through Friday, a member of the NFDA staff will draw 10 names. The drawings will be available for viewing on NFDA’s website, social media sites and YouTube channel at 2 p.m. CST each day.

Complete details about the NFDA Meet the Mentors program, including eligibility requirements, can be found on the NFDA website, www.nfda.org/mentors. Members can call NFDA at 800-228-6332 with questions.

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 39 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.