Item 1. Business
Item 1. Business
General
We are North America’s largest provider of deathcare products and services, with a network of funeral service locations and cemeteries unequaled in geographic scale and reach. At December 31, 2021, we operated 1,471 funeral service locations and 488 cemeteries (including 299 funeral service/cemetery combination locations), which are geographically diversified across 44 states, eight Canadian provinces, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
We are well known for our Dignity Memorial ® brand, North America's first transcontinental brand of deathcare products and services. Our other brands include Dignity Planning ™ , National Cremation Society ® , Advantage ® Funeral and Cremation Services, Funeraria del Angel ™ , Making Everlasting Memories ® , Neptune Society ™ and Trident Society ™ . Our funeral service and cemetery operations consist of funeral service locations, cemeteries, funeral service/cemetery combination locations, crematoria, and other related businesses, which enable us to serve a wide array of customer needs. We sell cemetery property and funeral and cemetery merchandise and services at the time of need and on a preneed basis.
History
We were incorporated in Texas in July of 1962. Our original business plan was based on efficiencies of scale, specifically reducing overhead costs by sharing resources such as preparation services, back office administration support, transportation, and personnel among funeral service locations in a business “cluster.” After proving the plan’s effectiveness in Houston in the early 1960s, we set out to apply this operating strategy through the acquisition of deathcare businesses in other markets over the next three decades. Beginning in 1993, we expanded beyond North America, acquiring major deathcare companies in Australia, the United Kingdom, and France, plus smaller holdings in other European countries, Asia, and South America.
During the mid to late 1990s, acquisitions of deathcare facilities became extremely competitive, resulting in increased prices for acquisitions and substantially reduced returns on invested capital. In 1999, we significantly reduced our level of acquisition activity and over the next several years implemented various initiatives to pay down debt, increase cash flow, reduce overhead costs, increase efficiency, and leverage our scale. We divested our international businesses and many North American funeral service locations and cemeteries that were either underperforming or did not fit within our long-term strategy. At the same time, we began to capitalize on the strength of our network by introducing to North America the first transcontinental brand of deathcare services and products — Dignity Memorial ® (see www.dignitymemorial.com). Information contained on our website is not part of this report.
In late 2006, having arrived at a position of financial stability and improved operating efficiency, we acquired the then second largest company in the North American deathcare industry, Alderwoods Group. In early 2010, we acquired the then fifth largest company in the North American deathcare industry, Keystone North America. In June of 2011, we acquired 70% of the outstanding shares of The Neptune Society, Inc. (Neptune), which is the nation's largest direct cremation organization, now known as SCI Direct. Subsequently, in 2013 and 2014, we acquired the remaining 30% of the outstanding shares of Neptune. In December 2013, we purchased Stewart Enterprises, Inc. (Stewart), the then second largest operator of funeral service locations and cemeteries in North America. We continue to pursue strategic acquisitions and complete divestitures of non-strategic funeral homes and cemeteries.
Funeral and Cemetery Operations
Our funeral service and cemetery operations consist of funeral service locations, cemeteries, funeral service/cemetery combination locations, crematoria, and other related businesses. See Note 13 in Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, for financial information about our business segments and geographic areas.
We have the largest number of combination locations in North America. Funeral service/cemetery combination locations are businesses in which a funeral service location is physically located within or adjoining a cemetery that we own. Combination locations allow certain facility, personnel, and equipment costs to be shared between the funeral service location and cemetery locations. Such combination facilities typically are more cost competitive and have higher gross margins than funeral and
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cemetery operations that are operated separately. Combination locations also create synergies between funeral and cemetery preneed sales force personnel and give families added convenience to purchase both funeral and cemetery merchandise and services at a single location.
Funeral service locations provide all professional services related to funerals and cremations, including the use of funeral home facilities and motor vehicles, arranging and directing services, removal, preparation, embalming, cremations, memorialization, and catering. Funeral merchandise, including burial caskets and related accessories, urns and other cremation receptacles, outer burial containers, flowers, online and video tributes, stationery products, casket and cremation memorialization products, travel protection, and other ancillary merchandise, is sold at funeral service locations.
Our cemeteries provide cemetery property interment rights, including developed lots, lawn crypts, mausoleum spaces, niches, and other cremation memorialization and interment options. Cemetery merchandise and services, including memorial markers and bases, outer burial containers, flowers and floral placement, other ancillary merchandise, graveside services, merchandise installation, and interments, are sold at our cemeteries.
We also sell cemetery property interment rights and funeral and cemetery merchandise and services whereby a customer contractually agrees to the terms of certain products and services to be delivered and performed in the future. We define these sales as preneed sales. As a result of such preneed sales, our preneed backlog of unfulfilled funeral and cemetery contracts was $13.7 billion and $12.7 billion at December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
The following table at December 31, 2021 provides the number of our funeral service locations and cemeteries by country, and by state, territory, or province:
Country, State/Territory/Province Number of Funeral Service Locations Number of Cemeteries Total
United States
Alabama 35 13 48
Arizona 31 11 42
Arkansas 11 3 14
California 158 39 197
Colorado 29 11 40
Connecticut 22 — 22
Delaware — 1 1
District of Columbia 1 — 1
Florida 132 61 193
Georgia 32 18 50
Hawaii 8 3 11
Idaho 1 — 1
Illinois 38 26 64
Indiana 51 14 65
Iowa 7 2 9
Kansas 8 5 13
Kentucky 11 5 16
Louisiana 29 11 40
Maine 10 — 10
Maryland 16 13 29
Massachusetts 27 — 27
Michigan 41 — 41
Minnesota 8 2 10
Mississippi 12 3 15
Missouri 25 10 35
Nebraska 8 2 10
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Country, State/Territory/Province Number of Funeral Service Locations Number of Cemeteries Total
Nevada 15 6 21
New Hampshire 6 — 6
New Jersey 22 — 22
New Mexico 1 — 1
New York 52 — 52
North Carolina 47 17 64
Ohio 48 15 63
Oklahoma 13 7 20
Oregon 15 4 19
Pennsylvania 24 16 40
Puerto Rico 6 9 15
Rhode Island 6 — 6
South Carolina 12 9 21
Tennessee 40 18 58
Texas 166 65 231
Utah 4 3 7
Virginia 37 24 61
Washington 34 15 49
West Virginia 7 8 15
Wisconsin — 7 7
Canada
Alberta 9 — 9
British Columbia 36 9 45
Manitoba 4 3 7
New Brunswick 5 — 5
Nova Scotia 12 — 12
Ontario 42 — 42
Quebec 42 — 42
Saskatchewan 15 — 15
Total (1)
1,471 488 1,959
(1) Includes businesses held for sale at December 31, 2021.
We believe we have satisfactory title to the properties owned and used in our business, subject to various liens, encumbrances, and easements that are incidental to ownership rights and uses and do not materially detract from the value of the property. At December 31, 2021, we owned approximately 90% of the real estate and buildings used at our facilities, and the remainder of the facilities were leased under both finance and operating leases. At December 31, 2021, our 488 cemeteries contained a total of approximately 35,500 acres, of which approximately 66% was developed. Interment rights for approximately 2,000 acres of the developed acreage are unsold.
Our corporate headquarters are located at 1929 Allen Parkway, Houston, Texas 77019. The property consists of approximately 160,000 square feet of office space and 185,000 square feet of parking space on approximately seven acres. We also lease approximately 35,000 square feet of office space in Houston, Texas, which we utilize for corporate activities. We own a building in Jefferson, Louisiana with approximately 96,200 square feet of office space that we use, in part, for corporate activities.
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A map of our locations in North America is presented below:
COVID-19 Impact
During 2020, an outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) spread worldwide and was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. The health, safety, and mental well-being of our associates continues to be a top priority throughout this COVID-19 pandemic. We provide an employee assistance program that offers free and confidential counseling by masters level counselors for our associates. We have been able to avoid layoffs, mandatory furloughs, and any widespread reductions in pay as a result of the impact of COVID-19. In 2020 and in 2021, we awarded "hero bonuses" and other bonuses to associates in recognition of their courageous efforts and dedication to serving families throughout the pandemic.
In early 2020, the rigorous restrictions placed on gatherings and mandates by state, provincial, and local governments posed a unique challenge for our locations. We quickly implemented technology solutions, including livestreaming on social media, that allowed extended family and friends to virtually participate in the ceremony alongside the immediate family. In certain instances, atneed funeral directors still have the option of using virtual meeting platforms as a tool to discuss and plan service details with client families if requested by families. Our preneed sales teams continue to overcome social distancing obstacles in certain areas of the country by leveraging virtual arrangements with customers who may prefer to purchase cemetery property and merchandise from the safety of their home or setting up outdoor canopies to discuss pre-planning from a safe distance.
By capitalizing on our physical and digital presence in our response to the COVID-19 crisis, we have been able to further leverage our scale. The accelerated use of new technology required to successfully meet customer needs during COVID-19 has provided many advantages and further differentiates us from our competitors. The utilization of technology is increasing digital sales leads to record levels and producing a more effective and efficient sales model through enhanced use of our customer relationship management platform. In addition, we experienced an improvement in our customer relationships due to a dedicated focus on service excellence and honoring the details of every life we are privileged to serve, as well as enabling a seamless interaction with families through a best-in-class website experience. Our continued focus on service excellence during these trying times has been recognized by families who continue to share their positive experiences publicly through online customer satisfaction ratings and reviews. Our average customer satisfaction ratings continue to remain high through various social media platforms and directly reflect the efforts of our front-line heroes, who consistently go above and beyond for the families we serve.
In 2021, we continued to experience the impact of COVID-19 variants. However, we have seen community restrictions lifted and vaccine distribution more widespread. As restrictions have lifted, we have seen an increase in the number of families who desire memorial services which has driven significant growth in our preneed sales as well as positively affected our average revenue per funeral service. We view this as further evidence that our customers continue to value what our team does best, which is helping our client families gain closure and healing through the process of grieving, remembrance, and celebration.
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Like most businesses world-wide, COVID-19 is still impacting various aspects of our business operations; however, we cannot, with certainty, predict the scope, severity, or duration with which COVID-19 will continue to impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
Competition
Although there are several public companies that own funeral service locations and cemeteries, the majority of deathcare businesses in North America are locally-owned, independent operations. We estimate that our funeral and cemetery market share in North America is approximately 15%-16% based on estimated total industry revenue. The success of a single funeral service location or cemetery in any community is a function of the name, reputation, and location of that funeral service location or cemetery. Competitive pricing, professional service and attention, and well-maintained locations are also important.
We have an unparalleled network of funeral service locations and cemeteries that offers high quality products and services at prices that are competitive with local competing funeral service locations, cemeteries, and retail locations. Within this network, the funeral service locations and cemeteries operate under various names as most operations were acquired as existing businesses. We have co-branded the majority of our operations under the name Dignity Memorial ® . Our branding strategy gives us a strategic advantage and identity in the industry. While this branding process is intended to emphasize our seamless national network of funeral service locations and cemeteries, the original names associated with acquired operations, and their inherent goodwill and heritage, generally remain the same. For example, Geo. H. Lewis & Sons Funeral Directors is now Geo. H. Lewis & Sons Funeral Directors, a Dignity Memorial ® provider.
Strategies for Growth
We are the largest consolidated deathcare company in North America and are well positioned for long-term profitable growth. Like most businesses world-wide, COVID-19 has impacted various aspects of our business operations, however, our fundamental strategy has not changed. Over the next several years, our industry will be largely shaped by the aging of the Baby Boomer generation in the deathcare space and are poised to benefit from the aging of the North American population. In each stage of life, Baby Boomers have set new trends, transformed society, and redefined norms, and we anticipate the impact will be the same for our industry. We have already begun to see the impact of the Baby Boomers through the growth in our preneed cemetery sales production. We expect to see a similar impact on our preneed funeral results and ultimately our atneed results as these preneed contracts mature. In every aspect of our business, we are listening and responding to our customer’s changing needs and leveraging our scale to deliver unparalleled experiences - both digitally and in person - to meet those changing needs.
The following strategies remain the core of our foundation: 1) grow revenue, 2) leverage our unparalleled scale, and 3) deploy capital. While these strategies remain unchanged, a shift to increased utilization of technology during the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced how we serve our customers and how we invest our capital.
Grow Revenue
We plan to grow revenue by remaining relevant to our customers as their preferences evolve through a combination of price, product, and service differentiation strategies. We also expect that continued growth in our preneed sales will drive future revenue expansion.
Remaining Relevant to the Customer
Remaining relevant to our customer is key to generating revenue growth in a changing customer environment. We are constantly evolving to meet the varying preferences and needs of our customers. Whether choosing burial or cremation, the Baby Boomers are redefining the traditional funeral by transitioning away from solemnly mourning a death to a personalized celebration of life ceremony. In certain markets, we are responding to this trend by spending capital to repurpose traditional casket selection rooms to event rooms that can accommodate a celebration. We are offering a customer friendly digital presentation of options that allow the customer to choose merchandise and services including unique celebration, catering, and celebrant services.
In our funeral business, we focus on memorialization merchandise and services that are meaningful to both our burial and cremation customers. The growing trend of cremation requires more flexibility in providing products and services. We have developed cremation service packages, which may or may not include a celebratory memorialization.
In our cemetery business, we continue to grow revenue by responding to the customer’s desire for personalized and unique options by expanding our tiered product and cemetery property options. Over the past several years, we have substantially increased our property options to offer many unique choices. From high-end family estates, which capture incredible views, to nicely landscaped hedge estates, we continue to develop property selections that resonate with our customers. For cemetery merchandise and services, we have developed innovative products such as recurring floral placements, customized cemetery property offerings, and specialized graveside service options. We continue to embrace cremation opportunities for customers
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in our cemetery segment by offering an increased variety of cremation property options, including glass-front niches and scattering gardens.
As we evolve to meet ever-changing customer preferences, we will continue catering to the religious, ethnic, and cultural traditions important to many of our customers. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have remained flexible to meet the varying needs of customers. This flexibility has demonstrated our resolve to remain relevant to changing customer preferences.
Growing Preneed Sales
Our preneed sales program drives current and future revenue growth. Baby Boomers have been impacting our cemetery preneed sales for several years and are beginning to positively impact the growth of our preneed funeral sales programs. Our sales organization is supported by a highly trained sales force of approximately 3,750 counselors, who provide customers informed guidance about various service and merchandise options tailored for today’s consumers. Utilizing our scale, our counselors are reaching out to consumers through multiple lead channels, driving future revenue growth. We sponsor community events and seminars to educate and provide guidance around preplanning both funeral and cemetery services and merchandise. In 2019, we adopted a more sophisticated and targeted direct mail approach and we continue increasing our digital presence through search engine optimization and other marketing channels. We have a unique competitive advantage to continue growing preneed sales benefiting from our size and scale. Our preneed program provides us with an opportunity to develop greater brand awareness, gives consumers peace of mind about their end of life arrangements, and secures future market share. We saw significant growth in our digital lead channels throughout 2020 and 2021 due to our efforts to increase our digital presence and also from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leverage Our Unparalleled Scale
As the largest deathcare company in North America, we leverage our scale by developing our sales organization and optimizing the use of our network using technology which benefits our preneed backlog. Our scale enables cost efficiencies through purchasing power and utilizing economies of scale through our supply chain channel. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been able to continue to operate without any major disruptions to our business, which highlights the strength of our scale.
Developing Our Sales Organization
Over the last several years, we have continued to invest significantly in the development of our sales organization with best in class tools and technologies. These investments include a customer relationship management system, which drives improvements in productivity and sales production by leveraging data analytics, rigorous lead tracking, and effective follow up campaigns. We continue to diversify our sales force to understand and cater to the religious, ethnic, and cultural traditions important to our customers. Our premier combination locations and other large and recognizable cemeteries and funeral homes attract high-quality sales talent. Our scale allows us to operate and expand our sales organization in a manner that our competitors cannot replicate. During 2020 and 2021, we were able to train and quickly develop our sales organization to be able to efficiently complete digital sales with the use of various online tools.
Optimizing Our Network and Deploying Customer-Facing Technology
We continue driving operating discipline and leveraging our scale through standardizing processes and capitalizing on new technologies to improve the customer experience. Our advancements in technology are changing the way we present our product and service offerings to customers. Our atneed point of sale system, HMIS+, uses a digital platform enabled with high resolution video and photographs to create a seamless presentation of our products and service offerings. Our mobile preneed sales system, Beacon, provides customers with a full digital presentation experience in their home or other place of their choosing.
In 2018, we completed a redesign of our Dignity Memorial® location websites. Featuring a modern and user-friendly design, these location-specific websites are designed for mobile use and optimized for better search engine ranking. In addition to the contemporary and sophisticated design, client families now enjoy new features such as a streamlined obituary completion process, social media sharing capabilities, and the ability to create and share personalized content in memory of their loved one. As result of these efforts, the number of visits to our websites grew significantly.
During 2019, we took significant steps improving the quality of customer feedback and elevating our online reputation. We engaged a third party to increase the response rate from customers for online reviews which has resulted in a significant increase in the number of reviews over the past two years. Online reviews provide visibility of customer engagement down to the location level and shorten our response time in addressing customer concerns. We collaborated with a leading technology partner to deliver the J.D. Power surveys digitally, which has increased the quality of customer feedback and reduced the time it takes to receive customer feedback. We have established a social media presence for a number of our funeral and cemetery businesses, including the ability to livestream services at many of our locations. These digital efforts resulted in favorable customer satisfaction ratings and increased digital sales leads over the last several years.
Although 2020 and 2021 were difficult in many unexpected ways, we learned valuable lessons around our ability to quickly deploy customer-facing technology. Our associates and client families embraced an increasingly digital world and we utilized various online tools to complete sales and meet families while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are
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encouraged by the increased digitization and we are making great strides with internal projects leveraging technology and simplifying nearly every facet of service delivery.
Growing Our Preneed Backlog
Our preneed backlog, which includes both insurance and trust-funded merchandise and service products, allows us the opportunity to grow future revenue in a more stable and efficient manner than selling at the time of need. The scale of our multi-billion dollar trust portfolios allows us to leverage access to preeminent money managers with favorable fee structures generating above average returns. Our blended funding approach between insurance and trust-funded merchandise and service products allows us to combine the positive cash flow and predictability of the insurance product with the potential upside of higher returns from our trusted merchandise and service products. This blended approach also results in our ability to grow our preneed backlog in a cash flow neutral manner. Additionally, we are experiencing contracts coming out of the backlog today with growth rates that are superior to the comparable growth in atneed pricing due to higher market performance.
Deploy Capital
We maximize capital deployment opportunities in a disciplined and balanced manner to the highest relative return. Our strong liquidity, favorable debt maturity profile, and robust cash flow generation enables us to continue our long-standing commitment to use capital deployment to opportunistically grow our business and enhance shareholder value, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Typically our highest relative return opportunities come from acquisitions and funeral service and cemetery new builds. During 2020 and 2021, we were able to weather the uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic and strategically deploy capital to the highest relative return opportunities.
Investing in Acquisitions and Building New Funeral Service and Cemetery Locations
We manage our footprint by focusing on strategic acquisitions and building new funeral service and cemetery locations where the expected returns are attractive and meaningfully exceed our weighted average cost of capital. We target businesses with favorable customer dynamics and locations where we can achieve additional economies of scale. Over the last several years, we have increased our growth capital spend on new funeral service locations, enlarging our footprint into new communities as well as expanding existing locations to remain relevant to our customers. For our cemetery businesses, we plan to pursue strategic acquisitions to create more opportunities to serve Baby Boomers through our tiered cemetery options. Additionally, we acquire land that will be developed for future cemetery use in some of our largest markets. This investment in our future will allow us to continue creating cemetery offerings that appeal to varying preferences in those markets for many years to come. We were able to invest $121.4 million in acquiring 30 funeral homes and 2 cemeteries in 2021.
Managing Debt
We continue to focus on maintaining optimal levels of liquidity and financial flexibility. Our flexible capital strategy allows us to manage our debt maturity profile by making open market debt repurchases when it is opportunistic to do so. We generate a relatively consistent annual cash flow stream that is generally resistant to down economic cycles. This cash flow stream and our significant liquidity allow us to substantially reduce our long-term debt maturities should we choose to do so.
Return Excess Cash to Shareholders
Absent any strategic acquisition or new build opportunities, we intend to return excess cash to shareholders. Our quarterly dividend rate has steadily grown from $0.025 per common share in 2005 to $0.23 per common share at the end of 2021. We target a payout ratio of 30% to 40% of after-tax earnings excluding special items and intend to grow our cash dividend commensurate with the growth in our business.
Other
We make available free of charge, on or through our website, our annual, quarterly, and current reports and any amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after electronically filing such reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Our website is http://www.sci-corp.com and our telephone number is (713) 522-5141. We also post announcements, updates, events and investor information and presentations on our website in addition to copies of all recent news releases. We may use the Investors section of our website to communicate with investors. It is possible that the financial and other information posted there could be deemed material information. Each of our Board of Directors’ standing committee charters, our Corporate Governance Guidelines, our Code of Ethics for Board Members, and our Code of Conduct for Officers and Employees are available, free of charge, through our website or, upon request, in print. We will post on our internet website all waivers to, or amendments of, our Code of Conduct for Officers and Employees, which are required to be disclosed by applicable law and rules of the New York Stock Exchange listing standards. Information contained on our website is not part of this report. The SEC also maintains an internet site at http://www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically.
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Human Capital Management
At December 31, 2021, we employed 17,022 full-time individuals and 7,636 part-time individuals. Of the full-time associates, 14,663 were employed in the funeral and cemetery operations and 2,359 were employed in corporate or other overhead areas of our business. Approximately 2.5% of our associates are represented by unions. Although labor disputes occur from time to time, relations with associates are generally considered favorable. We reach out to our associates for feedback throughout their employment at SCI using a variety o f voluntary surveys ensuring we are meeting the needs and expectations of our large and diverse workforce.
Associate Benefits
All eligible associates in the United States may elect coverage under our group health and life insurance plans. Associates covered by a collective bargaining agreement are typically covered by union health plans and, therefore, do not participate in our health insurance plan. At December 31, 2021 and 2020, there were 9,685 and 9,620 associates, respectively, who had elected to participate in our group health insurance plans.
Eligible associates in the United States are covered by retirement plans of SCI or various subsidiaries, while international associates are covered by other SCI (or SCI subsidiary) defined contribution or government-mandated benefit plans. We have an employee savings plan that qualifies under Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code for the exclusive benefit of our United States employees. We contribute a matching contribution based on the employee's contribution and years of vesting service. For more information about our retirement plans, see Note 12 of Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
We understand the importance of work-life balance and provide other benefits such as baby bonding time, paid time off for various reasons, and financial planning support for our associates. Additionally, we offer an employee assistance program that offers free and confidential counseling by masters level counselors for associates who may be facing challenges outside of the workplace.
Inclusion and Diversity
We believe in the power of inclusion and respecting our fellow associates’ work, ideas, beliefs, and lifestyles. Our Inclusion and Diversity (I&D) Committee, which is a cross-functional team of associates, has been key to the development of programs such as our Women’s Leadership Conference and Associate Resource Communities (ARCs). The ARCs allow colleagues with similar backgrounds or interests to connect for networking, provide opportunities for growth, and support the communities and customers we serve. Our leadership team is committed to advancing inclusion and diversity within the workplace. By embracing the many backgrounds and perspectives that make each of us so unique, we are able to remain relevant to the diverse families we serve. We recently added an I&D senior management position to support the Company's belief that diversity of talent and people is a key driver of better business outcomes.
Training and Development
We provide opportunities for career growth and supporting the personal and professional goals of our associates is a priority for us. In addition to development programs and a robust online training portal offering more than 2,500 courses, associates can participate in mentoring programs and take advantage of discounts and tuition reimbursement through our many university partnerships. We are also proud to offer scholarship and apprentice programs to those interested in joining our profession.
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Regulation
Our funeral operations are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) under the FTC’s Trade Regulation Rule on Funeral Industry Practices (the “Funeral Rule”), which went into effect in 1984. The Funeral Rule defines certain acts or practices as unfair or deceptive and contains certain requirements to prevent these acts or practices. The preventive measures require a funeral provider to give consumers accurate, itemized price information and various other disclosures about funeral merchandise and services and prohibit a funeral provider from: 1) misrepresenting legal, crematory, and cemetery requirements; 2) embalming for a fee without permission; 3) requiring the purchase of a casket for direct cremation; and 4) requiring consumers to buy certain funeral merchandise or services as a condition for furnishing other funeral merchandise or services.
Our operations are also subject to regulation, supervision, and licensing under numerous federal, state, and local laws and regulations as well as Canadian provincial laws and regulations. For example, state laws impose licensing requirements for funeral service locations and funeral directors and regulate preneed sales including our preneed trust activities. Our facilities are subject to environmental, health, and safety regulations. We take various measures to comply with the Funeral Rule and all laws and regulations. For example, we have established and maintain policies and procedures around our business practices; we provide training of our personnel; and we perform ongoing reviews of our compliance efforts. We are currently in substantial compliance with the Funeral Rule and all laws and regulations.
Federal, state, and local legislative bodies and regulatory agencies (including Canadian legislative bodies and agencies) frequently propose new laws and regulations, some of which could have a material effect on our operations and on the deathcare industry in general. We cannot accurately predict the outcome of any proposed legislation or regulation or the effect that any such legislation or regulation might have on us.
Executive Officers of the Company
The following table as of February 15, 2022, sets forth, the name and age of each executive officer of the Company, the office held, and the year first elected an officer.
Officer Name Age Position Year First
Became Officer
Thomas L. Ryan 56 Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President 1999
Sumner J. Waring, III 53 Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer 2002
Eric D. Tanzberger 53 Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer 2000
Gregory T. Sangalis 66 Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary 2007
Elisabeth G. Nash 60 Senior Vice President, Operations Services 2004
John H. Faulk 46 Senior Vice President, Revenue and Business Development 2010
Steven A. Tidwell 60 Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing 2010
Tammy R. Moore 54 Vice President and Corporate Controller 2010
Mr. Ryan was elected Chairman of the Board of SCI effective in January 2016, appointed Chief Executive Officer in February 2005, and President in 2019. He joined the Company in 1996 and served in a variety of financial management roles until November 2000, when he was asked to serve as Chief Executive Officer of European Operations based in Paris, France. In July 2002, Mr. Ryan returned to the United States where he was appointed President and Chief Operating Officer of SCI. Before joining SCI, Mr. Ryan was a certified public accountant with Coopers & Lybrand LLP for eight years. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Ryan serves as a member of the University of Texas McCombs Business School Advisory Council and is a senior member of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors.
Mr. Waring, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, is responsible for North American Operations. He joined SCI in 1996 as Area Vice President of Operations when SCI acquired his family's funeral business. He was appointed President of the Northeast Region in 1999 and President of the Pacific Region in September 2001. In September 2002, Mr. Waring was appointed Vice President, Western Operations, a position he held until May 2004 when he was appointed Vice President, Major Market Operations. He was promoted to Senior Vice President in 2006. In May 2015, Mr. Waring's responsibilities were expanded to include all operations in North America. Mr. Waring holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Stetson University, a degree in mortuary science from Mount Ida College, and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Mr. Waring serves on the Board of Directors of BankFive and the Greater Houston Partnership.
Mr. Tanzberger was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in June 2006 and also served as Treasurer from July 2007 to February 2017. Mr. Tanzberger joined the Company in August 1996 and held various management positions prior to being promoted to Corporate Controller in August 2002. Before joining SCI, Mr. Tanzberger began his financial career at Coopers and Lybrand LLP. Mr. Tanzberger holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Notre
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Dame. Mr. Tanzberger is currently a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Audit Committee of Sanara MedTech Inc. (NASDAQ: SMTI). He is also a current member of the Executive Committee and the Audit Committee Chair of the United Way of Greater Houston. Mr. Tanzberger is a former member of the Board of Trustees of Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas and the National Funeral Directors Association Funeral Service Foundation.
Mr. Sangalis joined the Company in 2007 as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. In 2012, his responsibilities were expanded to include Human Resources. He previously served as Senior Vice President, Law and Administration for Team Inc., a leading provider of specialty industrial maintenance and construction services. Prior to that, Mr. Sangalis served as Managing Director and General Counsel of Main Street Equity Ventures II, a private equity investment firm, and as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for Waste Management, Inc., the leading provider of waste management services in North America. Mr. Sangalis holds a bachelor's degree in finance from Indiana University and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Minnesota. He earned his juris doctorate from the University of Minnesota Law School.
Ms. Nash was named Senior Vice President of Operations Services in 2010 and is currently responsible for a variety of support functions, including information technology, supply chain, and program management. Prior to that she was Vice President of Process Improvement and Technology, where she led the redefinition of our field and home office processes and systems. Before joining SCI, Ms. Nash served in various senior management accounting and financial positions with Pennzoil Corp. She holds a bachelor's degree in business administration in accounting from Texas A&M University. Ms. Nash serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of Genesys Works.
Mr. Faulk was named Senior Vice President of Revenue and Business Development in 2018. He joined SCI in March 2010 as Vice President, Business Development, to oversee the Company's strategic growth, including mergers and acquisitions, real estate and construction. His promotion in 2018 expanded his role to include setting direction for the company’s pricing and cemetery development functions. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Faulk worked for Bain & Company, Inc. where he helped Fortune 500 Companies and specialty retailers identify profit growth opportunities and achieve strong operating results. He holds a master's degree in business administration from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia.
Mr. Tidwell joined SCI as Vice President, Main Street Market Operations, in March 2010 and was promoted to Senior Vice President of Sales and Merchandising in 2012. As a co-founder of Keystone North America, Inc., Mr. Tidwell served as its President and Chief Executive Officer from May 2007 until it was acquired by SCI in March 2010. In his role, Mr. Tidwell worked closely with Keystone's Senior Leadership Team to develop and implement organic growth strategies as well as external growth and acquisition strategies. He began his career as a licensed funeral director and embalmer in Nashville, Tennessee, and has been actively involved in the funeral and cemetery profession for over thirty-seven years. He holds an associate of arts degree from John A. Gupton College and has attended Executive Management and Leadership programs at the Harvard Business School, Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management, and the Center for Creative Leadership. Mr. Tidwell has served for over three years as the Chairman of the Board of Regents of Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service.
Mrs. Moore joined the Company in August 2002 as Manager of Financial Reporting. She was promoted to Director of Financial Reporting in 2004 and Managing Director and Assistant Controller in June 2006. In February 2010, she was promoted to Vice President and Corporate Controller and oversees trust accounting and compliance, general accounting, internal and external reporting, customer service, and strategic planning and analysis. Prior to joining the Company, Mrs. Moore was a certified public accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. She holds a bachelor's degree in business administration in accounting from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Since 2019, Mrs. Moore has served on the Board of Regents of Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service.