Our presenting faculty represents a wealth of practical expertise on the subject of pet loss services. Through their knowledge & experience, our team is able to share both an insider/outsider perspective on the implementation of these successful business practices.

	> Steven P. Schaal, Division Manager of Sales & Marketing for the Matthews Cremation Division, represents nearly 20 years in the death care industry. Steve is responsible for all domestic and international sales and marketing functions for both Human & Animal Cremation Equipment (IEE/ALL Crematory brands) in Orlando, Florida and Elder-Davis Caskets in Richmond, Indiana. Steve has spent most of his career utilizing consumer research as the foundation for strategic development. He has successfully identified numerous products and services that are being utilized in today’s funeral environment. Steve’s credentials includes the successful rollout of the fractional display system –The York Merchandising System™ (YMS), a turnkey cremation merchandising/marketing and fixtures program titled MasterTouch™ Cremation Planning, the industry’s first comprehensive pet loss program titled Faithful Forever™ Pet Loss and a direct fresh floral registry program for funeral professionals titled Mourning Flowers™. Steve is an accomplished public speaker (NFDA, CANA, ICFA, CCC and others) and has written/published numerous industry articles on the topic of cremation.
	> Tom Flynn, Owner of Hillcrest Memorial Park in Hermitage, Pennsylvania is a graduate of Accounting (C.P.A) from Loyola University Chicago. Tom began his funeral career in the cemetery business in 1970 and built a funeral home (John Flynn Funeral Home & Crematory) with his son in 1995. His passion for animals led him to build the Hillcrest-Flynn Pet Funeral Home & Crematory that handles 400 annual services per year. Tom is an accomplished speaker, proud member of AICPA, ICCFA, CANA, PCFHA & ICFHA organizations.
	> Roberta Knauf is the Director of Hillcrest-Flynn Pet Funeral Home & Crematory. Roberta has 27 years experience in the pet industry. She has owned (2) pet retail stores, boarding kennel and dog day care. She is an accomplish dog trainer for 25 years (APDT certified – American Pet Dog Trainers Assoc), member of Therapy Dogs International, AKC/CGC Evaluator and recognized as Pennsylvania Volunteer of the Year in 2005 & 2006.
	> William B. “Bill” McQueen is the President and co-owner of Anderson-McQueen Funeral & Cremation Centers, a family-owned and operated business established in 1952. Anderson-McQueen is based in St. Petersburg, Florida. His firm owns five (5) funeral homes, two (2) human crematories, a cemetery, and a Pet Loss & Cremation Service, all in Pinellas County, Florida. This second generation family business has the privilege of serving over 2,200 human families each year, of which 60% select cremation as their preferred form of disposition. Their Pet Passages™ by Anderson-McQueen division is on track to assist over 2,500 pet families in 2008. Bill has been involved with the family business in all capacities since “birth”, but has served in his present role since 1995. He is licensed by the State of Florida as a funeral director, embalmer and certified crematory operator and is a Certified Funeral Service Practitioner. Bill received is B.S. in Business Administration from University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and his Juris Doctorate with Highest Honors from University of Florida College of Law. Prior to his current role, Bill worked as a Certified Public Accountant with an international accounting firm and later practiced as an attorney-at-law. In addition to being a Board member & officer for the Cremation Association of North America, Bill’s other industry related activities include membership in Florida Funeral Directors Association, Independent Funeral Directors of Florida, International Cemetery, Cremation & Funeral Association, National Funeral Directors Association, as well as President of the Calvary Catholic Cemetery for the Diocese of St. Petersburg. Bill has been certified & testified as an expert witness in cremation liability cases in Florida. He and his wife Ria have lived in St. Petersburg their entire lives and have three (3) daughters: Morgan, Clare and Jenna.
	> Dr. Kathryn D. Marocchino is a Professor of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences in the Department of Global and Maritime Studies at California State University Maritime, a professional translator, and the author of several books and articles. She is also the president and founder of The Nikki Hospice Foundation for Pets (The NHFP), the nation’s first non-profit organization devoted to the provision of hospice care for terminally ill companion animals. Dr. Marocchino holds a doctorate in Modern Foreign Languages and Literature from the University of Turin (Italy), where she also completed pre-doctoral course work in biological sciences and where she held a lectureship for several years before coming to the United States. She has also taught at the University of California at Davis and at Stanford University. Her life-long interest in thanatology led her to complete a hospice volunteer training course through the Kaiser Permanente Hospice Program in Vallejo in 1995, and in 1999, she pioneered her campus’s first service-learning course—an elective sociology class entitled “Dying: The Final Stage of Living”—in conjunction with Kaiser Vallejo’s Hospice Department. Currently, she directs CSU Maritime’s Community Service Learning Center, where she coordinates all campus community service-learning projects for faculty, staff and students. Dr. Marocchino also holds a certificate of completion for the Professional Program in the Study of Loss and Grief through UC Berkeley Extension. She provides grief support to pet caregivers on a nationwide basis through The NHFP’s telephone counseling service and also offers weekly pet loss workshops (the only support of its kind in Solano County), through a unique partnership with the Benicia-Vallejo Humane Society. She is also a Fellow in Thanatology (FT) through ADEC (Association for Death Education and Counseling) and holds a certificate in Critical Incident Stress Management from the International CISM Foundation. She now provides on-going bereavement support for the Vallejo community at large as well as for students, faculty and staff at CSU Maritime and is also a consultant on the campus Emergency Preparedness Committee. She currently serves on ADEC’s Human Resource Network and is chair of the ADEC Pet Loss Special Interest Group. In 2005, she and her husband, Gianfranco, were awarded the President’s Lifetime Volunteer Call to Service Award for their work in The NHFP. Dr. Marocchino has been a guest on both radio and television shows, explaining the revolutionary work of The NHFP and promoting the concept of veterinary hospice care—a topic she has also discussed at a number of professional conferences, with audiences ranging from veterinarians and veterinary technicians to mental health/hospice personnel and death educators. Her articles on the subject are among the first of their kind to be published in both professional journals and in lay publications. Presently, she is working on a book about The NHFP and on the first handbook of veterinary hospice care. In the past, she has presented or given workshops on veterinary hospice care at ADEC; Wild West Veterinary Conference; UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital; Benicia-Vallejo Humane Society; Kaiser Vallejo’s Hospice Department; CSU Fullerton’s 2nd Annual Continuums of Service Conference; First PAWS Summit on the Healing Power of the Human-Animal Bond; Napa Solano Veterinary Medical Association; Animal Care Center of Rohnert Park, California; and Peninsula Humane Society of San Mateo, California.
	> Mark Klingenberger is the Business Development Manager for Wilbert Funeral Services Inc (2005) and the Vice President of Sales & Marketing Paws & Remember™ (2008). He works directly with Independent Vault licensees to help train their sales people at both Funeral Homes and Cemeteries throughout the United States and Canada. Mark began his funeral career in 1988 as a Regional Sales Director with Forethought Insurance. He became Vice President of Messenger Corporation, a division of Renaissance Publishing in 1998 and eventually General Manager of Estate Security General Agency and Premier Pre-need General Agency.