2026 Mid Winter Conference

Green Light on Green Funerals

By: Darren Crouch, CEO of Passages International

Green alternatives provide cemeteries and funeral homes with interesting opportunities to align with current consumer demand and significantly increase revenues. Whether you are a cemetery looking to sell more graves, a funeral home wanting to better serve families or a cremation operator looking to delivery tangible value to increase revenues, greener options can be your path forward. Join Darren Crouch, President and CEO of Passages International and the current President of the Green Burial Council to learn how.

Bio: Darren Crouch co-founded Passages International, Inc. in 1999 in the back of his family’s funeral home. Over the past 25 years, Passages has grown tremendously by helping funeral homes better serve families seeking less traditional end-of-life options—those choosing cremation, scattering, or more natural and personalized rituals. Darren has been published in The Director Magazine, American Funeral Director Magazine, Funeral Business Adviser, The Cremationist, and ICCFA Magazine. He has also been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post and New York Post. In addition, he has spoken at numerous national and international conventions, including the Asia Funeral Expo, NFDA Convention, ICCFA Convention, and CANA Symposium. In recognition of his leadership and innovation, TIME magazine named Darren to its TIME100 Climate list of the most influential climate leaders in 2025. In 2022, Passages International was also a finalist for Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas award in the category of Enduring Impact. Darren holds a B.Sc. (Hons) degree from Manchester Metropolitan University in Manchester, England, is a Vistage member, and currently serves as President of the Green Burial Council.

Funeral Industry Issues - A Roundtable Discussion

By: Adam Shaffer, PFDA Executive Director

The goal of this course is to present issues facing todays funeral directors and funeral home owners with a brief overview of what problems each situation is causing for funeral directors and funeral home owners. After this brief overview is provided the attendees will be separated into smaller groups (roundtables) to discuss how they handle these situations in their funeral homes and to brainstorm other potential solutions. This will continue until all the issues have been presented and discussed. The session will conclude with all the groups reconvening to share their groups answers. This sharing will facilitate additional discussion and will ultimately allow the attendees to collectively decide on the best solution for their respective funeral home. With input from PFDA's General Counsel.

Adam's Bio: Adam Shaffer became the Executive Director of PFDA and Unichoice Cooperative Inc. in May of 2025. Adam joined PFDA after an extensive career in the Pennsylvania Funeral Industry. Adam attended the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science, where he graduated with honors before enrolling in Point Park University to finish his degree. In early 2006 he graduated Magna Cum Laude from Point Park University and immediately began serving his internship at the Thomas L. Nied Funeral Home. When his internship was complete Adam accepted a funeral directing job with the Hoffman Funeral Home and Crematory (at that time HoffmanRoth) where he served as a funeral director, manager, and supervisor until January of 2024.

Adam also spent one year in the Philadelphia area working for Funeral Directors Life Insurance Company as a select producer for seven funeral homes in four counties.

Managing Risk In The Funeral Home

By: Nick Ricci, Licensed Funeral Director and Instructor at PIMS

This 2-hour program is intended to give Funeral Directors Practical tools they can apply in their own firms. Including diligence techniques that should be implemented, documentation standards, communication protocols, staff training and operational safeguards.

 45-minute recap of the following topics: 

• The role of common law in funeral service
• What risk management is and the best technique
• The importance of an employee handbook
• The two most common civil lawsuits that funeral homes face: Breach of contract and Negligence
• What exactly is the "Funeral Contract"?
• Some basic contract recap (offer, acceptance, consideration, FTC Funeral Rule)
• A review of the PA priority statute for who has the right to control the funeral

In the final 75 minutes of this program, attendees will engage in an interactive review of three real lawsuits drawn from unusual and compelling scenarios in funeral service. Beginning with a factual breakdown of each case to establish context and highlight pivotal decision points. Participants will work through the “Hindsight Is 20/20” exercise—either as a full group or in breakout teams—to identify where the funeral home went wrong and what due diligence measures should have been in place. Through collaborative analysis and guided discussion, attendees will identify operational failures, due diligence gaps, and practical strategies for avoiding similar outcomes within their own firms.

Bio: Mr. Ricci’s focus to enable student success at PIMS is as a full-time faculty member who teaches both online and on campus. While his primary duties are teaching, Mr. Ricci also plays a key role in providing technical education and mentoring for the Clinical Embalming Program, Restorative Art Residency, and First Call/Decedent Transfer seminar (otherwise known as “Rescue Randy” day) at the Institute. Finally, Mr. Ricci also helps out with general administrative assisting tasks at the Institute and provides an assist to Ms. Cerutti in managing our social media presence.