Melvin C. Payne
Analyst · Barrington Research
Thank you, everyone, for tuning in. And this is the part of the call that honestly is my favorite part because I now have the honor and privilege of calling out by name our high-performance heroes for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2014. I'd first like to start with our fourth quarter high-performance heroes. In the East region: Jason Higginbotham, Lakeland Funeral Home, Lakeland, Florida; Charlie Eagan, Greenwood Funeral Home, Metairie, Louisiana, came with the group we bought from SCI last May; Ben Friberg, Heritage Funeral Home and Crematory, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia; Curtis Ottinger, Heritage Funeral Home, Chattanooga, Tennessee; James Terry, James Terry Funeral Home, Downingtown, Pennsylvania. In the Central region: Jeff Hardwick, Bryan & Hardwick Funeral Homes, Zanesville, Ohio; Pam Parramore, Baker Stevens Parramore Funeral Home, Middletown, Ohio; Mark Ratliff, Carman and Robertson Funeral Home, Flatwoods, Kentucky; Kyle Incardona, Hillier Funeral Home, Bryan, Texas; Kyndall Hale, Grantham Velta -- Velma Funeral Home, Duncan, Oklahoma , Oklahoma; and Jeremy Sparks, Resthaven Funeral Home, Oklahoma City. West region: Nathan Stifler, Bunkers Mortuary, Las Vegas, Nevada; Matthew Simpson, Fry Memorial Chapel, Tracy, California; Ken Summers, P.L. Fry & Son, Manteca, California; Steven Mora, Conejo Mountain and Cemetery, Camarillo, California; and Nicholas Welzenbach, Los Gatos Memorial Park, San Jose, California. Those are the fourth quarter high-performance heroes. Now because this is year-end, it's a big deal for the people in this company that they earn a special prestigious award called the Pinnacle, being the best pinnacle award. These are people who have averaged -- these are Managing Partners who have averaged 70% standard achievement over the last 3 years. This is not short-term performance, it's long-term performance within the Standards Operating Model. We also have a group that earned 100% of their standards in 2014. This group will go on a special trip, we do it every year, with spouse or partner, to New Orleans in April to celebrate. We'll have 4 days, 3 nights, and it's a big deal. They are a big deal, so we make a big deal of honoring them and being with them for that period of time. And I can tell you, it's like a corporate family event. I'd like to mention those names now. I'll start with Pinnacle winners that were 100% winners this year. Ken Pearce, Alameda Group. This is his fourth straight year of 100%, never been done before. Way to go, Pearce -- way to go, Ken. Jim Terry, this is his third straight year, 100%. James Terry Funeral Home, I mentioned him before in the fourth quarter. James Bass, 1 year, 100%, but he had 2 different businesses he was 100%: Emerald Coast and McLaughlin Mortuary in McLaughlin Twin Cities in the Panhandle of Florida. Robert Maclary, 2 straight years, 100%, Kent Forest Lawn Funeral Home, Panama City. And Kyle Incardona, his second 100% year, Hillier Funeral Home, College Station. Now Kyle is the one Bill mentioned, we're building a new place. It looks like Texas A&M outside the facility. We haven't been sued yet for intellectual property violation, but it's going to be an awesome showcase. And our concept in Carriage is when you get a winning horse like Kyle, you bet on it, especially in a winning market like that. Now these are the Pinnacle only winners, 70% over the last 3 years. Patty Drake, James Drake, Whaley-McCarty in Cynthiana, Kentucky; Ken Summers, P.L. Fry & Son Funeral Home, Manteca, California; Brian Binion, Steen Funeral Home, Ashland, Kentucky; Nicholas Welzenbach, Higgins Mortuary, Northern California; Kyndall Hale, Grantham Velma Funeral Homes -- I mentioned that earlier in Oklahoma; Frank Forastiere, Forastiere Group, Springfield, Massachusetts; Mark Cooper, Seaside Funeral Home, Corpus Christi, Texas; Dustin Liebin [ph] , Evans Brown Mortuaries, that's in Inland Empire, California; Kristi AhYou, Franklin & Downs Funeral Home, Modesto, California; Chris Chetsas, Cataudella Funeral Home, Methuen, Massachusetts, north of Boston; Steve Mora, Conejo Mountain Funeral Home, Camarillo, California, just north of L.A; Cesar Gutierrez, Dilday -- Heritage-Dilday Memorial Service in Huntington Beach, L.A.; Tom O'Brien, O'Brien Funeral Home, Bristol, Connecticut, home of ESPN. Cliff Baird, Martin-Wilson Funeral Home, La Follette, Tennessee; Chris Duhaime, Funk Funeral Home, again Bristol, Connecticut; Chad Woody, Watson-King Funeral Homes in North Carolina; Dorn Rademacher, Cremation Society of Idaho in Boise; Jason Cox, Lane Funeral Home, S. Crest, Chattanooga; Jeff Morris [ph] , Sterling-White Funeral Home, Highlands, Texas. Matt Simpson, Deegan Funeral Homes, that's in the Inland area, farming area near Northern California; Randy Valentine, Dieterle Memorial Home in Chicago. So these are 100%-only winners that I will now mention: Ben Friberg -- if you don't get 3 years under your belt, under the Standards Model, the only way to go on this trip is do 100%. So these are the ones who haven't been here 3 years, but they will go on the trip because they achieved 100% or they haven't had 3 years to qualify. Ben Friberg, Heritage Funeral Home in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia; Jeff Hardwick, Bryan & Hardwick; Richard Munoz, Connolly & Taylor Funeral Home, California; Andrew Cumby, way to go Andrew, Cumby Funeral Homes in North Carolina; Michael Redgate, Redgate Funeral Homes, Connecticut; and Nathan Stifler, Memory [ph] Gardens Memorial Park. Now those are the people in the field that produced the high performance that Bill covered. There are those in the home office that are just as high-performance heroes as those and without whom we wouldn't have the company we have. And I want to mention a few of those for the first time. Amanda Anderson. Amanda had a huge role in closing the transaction in Clarksville, Tennessee. And she did a wonderful job. Kelly Velasco. She's the first impression you get if you call our office because she answers the phone as our receptionist, and you will feel like you've died and gone to heaven when you talk to Kelly. Rebecca Reyes. She supports all of our operations, including DOSs and MPs. She's wonderful. I don't know what we would do without her. Adiola Ilaneon [ph] and her reporting team. The third quarter was the first time we ever released earnings and filed regulatory documents within 30 days after the quarter, and she had a huge part in accomplishing that. Raymond Sebesta. Raymond does everything around the office. He's a wonderful man. He assists in any way he can. He's in the Legal Group, and he's just a joy to interact with on a daily basis. Daniel Cox. He's in the IT group. He goes to the businesses. He helps them with our systems. He makes their life better and their ability to do their noble work more effective. And he energizes them while he does it. And then finally, but not last, Anjana Jackson in the Accounting Tax Department, who came up with our theme for 2015, which is Carriage Services 2015: High Performance through Passion and Partnership. It doesn't get any better than that. Thank you for turning in. We look forward to reporting 2015, which we think will be an incredible year for our shareholders and our employees. Thank you very much.