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JULY 2014
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS
S ec t i on B
DW McComb Group
names Frank Kaiser as
President
Frank,” McComb said.
“Frank’s business acumen,
leadership experience, work
ethic, commitment to serv-
ing his fellow man and,
most importantly, his entre-
preneurial spirit make him a
perfect fit for this role.”
Established in 2014, DW
McComb Group is a hold-
ing company managing a
number of subsidiary com-
panies, brands and relation-
ships, all focused on serving
the funeral service profes-
sion on a global basis.
John-
son Consulting Group
, the
death care industry leader
in mergers and acquisitions,
of Scottsdale, AZ, worked
closely with the DW Mc-
Comb Group on the acqui-
sition of Inman Shipping
Worldwide. “As a leader and
pioneer within its segment,
Inman Shipping World-
wide is an ideal fit for the
DWMcComb Group,” said
Jake Johnson
of Johnson
Consulting Group. “David
has built his career by serv-
ing his fellow man, which
is how
Robert
and
Mari-
lyn
built their business over
the past 35-plus years. We
are honored to have played
an integral part in bringing
these two great names in fu-
neral service together.”
“When working with
buyers and sellers in acqui-
sitions like this one, it’s as
much a blending of corpo-
rate cultures and individual
personalities as it is arriving
at a mutually acceptable
dollar figure,” explains
Tom Johnson
, chairman
of JCG. “The team at JCG
was instrumental in mak-
ing this acquisition possi-
ble,” added McComb. “It
was a long, thorough pro-
cess, and their expertise,
insights and service were
invaluable. Indeed, Tom
Johnson’s knowledge of the
businesses, and his person-
al relationships with the
various individuals made
this deal come together.”
Wilbert Funeral Services Brings Back
The Wilbert Updater
Funeral Professionals and
the challenges they face.
Speaking of challenges
faced by Funeral Profes-
BROADVIEW,IL—
The
Wilbert Updater
news-
letter, long respected as a
quick-read informational
resource for funeral pro-
fessionals, has been rein-
troduced in a digital for-
mat.
First printed in Decem-
ber, 1976,
The Updater
was mailed to thousands
of subscribers until 2006
when escalating printing
and postage costs rendered
it cost-prohibitive. Tech-
nology has now made it
possible to restart
The Up-
dater
as an online newslet-
ter, distributed via email.
With the Wilbert fam-
ily of companies includ-
ing
Wilbert Funeral
Services
,
Pierce Chem-
icals
and
Pierce Mortu-
ary Colleges
, the
Updat-
er
has a rich resource of
topics that promise to be
of interest across the var-
ied disciplines of funeral
service. Wilbert Licens-
ees will also be frequent
FORT WAYNE,IN—
Frank Kaiser
, a proven leader and
veteran of both the airline and funeral service industries,
has been named president of the
DW McComb Group
.
He has served as president and CEO of
Eagle’s Wings
Air
(EWA), the nation’s leading provider of logistics ser-
vices to North American funeral homes and shipping ser-
vices, since its founding in 2007. In his new role, Kaiser
will continue to lead and manage the day-to-day op-
erations of EWA along with those of
Inman Shipping
Worldwide
, which the DW McComb Group acquired
on May 1, 2014. Both companies will continue to op-
erate as separate, independent entities moving forward.
“It’s an honor to serve this profession and play an inte-
gral role in the long-term strategy and success of the DW
McComb Group and its companies,” Kaiser said. “Both
EWA and Inman are market leaders in what they do and
offer complementary services – which means we can now
offer a full spectrum of shipping and logistics services to
funeral directors on a global scale.”
DW McComb Group CEO
David W. McComb
is a li-
censed funeral director and fourth-generation co-owner of
D.O. McComb & Sons Funeral Homes
, a family of seven
funeral homes managing 1,500+ calls per year in Fort Wayne.
A successful entrepreneur and investor, David has also found-
ed companies offering a wide range of products, services and
segments within the funeral service profession, including pre-
need planning software, online obituaries and logistics.
“During this time of transformation for both EWA and
Inman, there’s no one better to lead both companies than
contributors of infor-
mative pieces that draw
on their perspective of
working directly with
sionals – and more impor-
tantly how they are ad-
dressed – Wilbert hopes
to involve Funeral Profes-
sionals themselves in the
content of their newslet-
ter by soliciting their input
as well as article contribu-
tions.
“The Updater will hear-
ken back to one older-
technology tool, howev-
er,” comments
Phil Allen
,
Marketing Specialist at
Wilbert and editor of
The
Updater
. “We couldn’t
bring back
The Updat-
er
without its infamous
Word Puzzle and that has
to be sent back to us for
a chance at prizes using
the good old fax machine.
But techie readers can, of
course, scan their puzzles
and email it back to us!”
To subscribe to The
Updater and access ar-
chived
issues,
visit