Catching Up With CANA’s Newly-Elected Board President Ryan Wiseman
Every board of directors is tasked with providing advice and oversight to an organization to ensure it operates as effectively as possible. Strategic planning, fundraising, and policy making are just a few of the duties entrusted to a board’s officers and members. But according to Ryan Wiseman, the newly-elected president of the Cremation Association of North America (CANA) board of directors, his team has an additional, yet equally important, assignment: Keeping CANA Executive Director Barbara Kemmis busy and challenged.
“That’s one thing about Barbara,” Wiseman says, with a tone of admiration in his voice, “she wants feedback from us. She wants to be challenged, and she always wants to keep busy and find more ways to keep CANA on the forefront. And she’s doing a great job.”
Although CANA members only recently elected Wiseman to the office of board president, he’s quite familiar with the body’s multi-faceted responsibilities, as he’s served as a board member for more than six years.
“I’ve been very educated and have learned a lot being on the board for the past six years,” Wiseman says. “Our board is very talented, and we’re very lucky to have some really smart people from all across the United States. Everyone brings a wealth of very diverse knowledge on not just cremation, but what’s going on in their state, so it’s very interesting.”
As co-owner of both Porter Funeral Homes in Kansas City and Lenexa, Kansas, and the Cremation Society of Kansas and Missouri, brings his own unique perspective as second-generation director beginning his third decade in deathcare. His own market closely aligns with the 2023 average U.S. cremation rate of just over 60% that was shared by CANA earlier this year along with other statistics that show that cremation is still growing, but just at a slower rate.
“I know that here in the Midwest we’re seeing cremation rates continue to go up,” he says. “I think that it’s still going to keep going, but just not increasing at the rate that it has been. I think we are right where we want to be, and we’re helping people navigate cremation and educating people. So I think we’re in a good spot.”
Even though more people are learning about cremation, more cremation-related options are being made available, like solidified remains, cremation diamonds, and even cremains-filled fireworks — and CANA strives to stay on top of them all.
“So many things continue to come out,” Wiseman adds. “You think you’ve seen everything and then you come to a CANA convention and there’s a new exhibitor, and you’re saying, ‘Wow, I never thought I would see something like that, it’s very interesting.’”
One rapidly-growing option that CANA’s board and staff are closely following is alkaline hydrolysis, which some states’ lawmakers have tried to fit in under the “cremation” label, even sometimes dubbing the process “water cremation.”
“CANA has worked on our actual statement of what we believe cremation is and what we believe cremation is not,” Wiseman says,. However, states are legalizing alkaline hydrolysis as cremation, and we follow the law.
The CANA definition of cremation includes alkaline hydrolysis and has done so for a decade. It is NOR that we have a position statement opposing calling it cremation and providers agree.
Wiseman is well aware of the various governmental challenges when it comes to deathcare laws and regulations, and he’s proud of the work Kemmis and her team have done in cooperation with various entities.
“Government agencies and state agencies look to us to help guide them,” Wiseman says “And I love that.”
Over his term as board president, Wiseman hopes even more people learn about CANA and its important role in cremation education and in representing the cremation community. One of his goals for the coming year is to continue building CANA’s membership by promoting the organization and sharing the many perks of involvement, especially with the online Funeral Professionals Peer Support Group seminars and with in-person events like the CANA symposiums and annual convention.
“I think all organizations are seeing numbers drop as far as attendees in-person with the staffing shortages in our industry,” Wiseman says. “So we’re going to keep the word out there about our conventions and symposia and try to get people to come out to events to get educated and hopefully connect with other like-minded people in our industry.”
