Seminars
and Speakers

Darren Crouch, the president and CEO of Passages International, cofounded the company in 1999 in the back of the family funeral home. Passages helps funeral homes meet the needs of less traditional consumers, including the growing clientele that chooses cremation, scattering or a more natural end-of-life ritual. Published in numerous funeral industry magazines, Crouch has spoken at several national and international conventions.

Crouch holds a degree from the Manchester Metropolitan University in Manchester, England. He is the current president of the Green Burial Council.

In his seminar, Crouch will explore the rising preference for environmentally responsible funeral options and how funeral homes can successfully adapt.

Amanda Marie Eilis King, CFSP, MBIT, is an embalmer and funeral director, licensed in multiple states. An honorary member of the Belgium Institute of Thanatopraxie, A funeral director and embalmer for Bailey Family Funeral Homes in Connecticut, King has extensive training in postmortem reconstructive work.

King teaches reconstructive work and cosmetic application and has provided articles, illustrations and photography for trade journals and mortuary textbooks.

She holds several degrees, including a post-baccalaureate degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art.

In her seminar, King will discuss several techniques on both “normal” and “reconstructive” cases to help create a more natural appearance of the decedent.

Glenn Gould was CEO of MKJ Marketing for 35 years. The deathcare industry marketing firm served funeral homes, cemeteries and death care industry vendors in areas of digital marketing, market research, advertising and training programs.

Through MKJ, Gould assisted funeral homes and deathcare industry vendors in establishing marketing and advertising plans. Gould holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees. His articles appear regularly in funeral service publications, and he has written two books that are in use at mortuary colleges nationally.

In his seminar, Gould will introduce marketing that funeral service practitioners can apply to managing a deathcare business, with the goal of long-term profitability.

Jolena Grande, CFSP, has more than 30 years of professional practice as a California-licensed funeral director, embalmer, cemetery manager, and crematory manager.

She began her funeral service career working for a large mortuary/cemetery combination operation in Southern California and joined the faculty in the Mortuary Science Department at Cypress College in 1995.

In Death Becomes Her: The Changing Demographics of Funeral Service Practitioners, Jolena Grande, a faculty member at Cypress College, will illuminate the differences between the historical attributes of funeral service practitioners and today’s employees and offer advice on how to connect with the modern funeral professional.

The owner of funeral homes in Colorado, Indiana and Kentucky, John Horan is the cofounder and board member of the Colorado Fallen Hero Foundation, coordinating law enforcement officers’ line-of-duty death funerals. Horan has led or assisted on more than 30 line-of-duty funerals.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado and an associate’s degree from the San Francisco College of Mortuary Science. Horan is senior vice president of the Park Lawn Corporation in the Denver area.

In his seminar, Horan will discuss how to navigate the legal, ceremonial and logistical responsibilities following the death of a police officer in the line of duty.

Gabriel Ngo is the director of transaction and advisory services of The Foresight Companies, a firm that supplies funeral and cemetery professions with business solutions to improve their profitability. Before joining Foresight, Ngo worked for Carriage Services for 13 years, filling a variety of roles from auditing, operational support, human resources, payroll and risk management. He also worked as a consultant for companies such as Manpower-Jefferson Wells and Sirius Solutions.

Ngo has a proven record of being able to problem solve across multi-functional disciplines and achieving sustainable, high-performance results through partnership and teamwork.

In his seminar, Ngo will speak on the importance of transparency in pricing.