President John Christian Phifer is Executive Director of Larkspur Conservation and a member of the Tennessee Funeral Directors Association, the National Home Funeral Alliance and a founding member of Conservation Burial Alliance. He received his mortuary science and funeral arts degree from John A. Gupton College in Nashville, TN, home funeral guide training through Final Passages, and end-of-life doula certification through the Conscious Dying Institute. He has worked in small town settings and in large metropolitan funeral homes and cemeteries, but finds himself most at home in the woods.
Director Cassie Barrett works as a green cemetery operator at Carolina Memorial Sanctuary, a conservation burial ground, where she has been since 2016. There she assists families with burials, runs business operations, and occasionally even digs graves. She also has a passion project, Center for Conscious Living & Dying, a collaboration with hospice doctor Aditi Sethi, which focuses on providing end-of-life guidance. Her biggest mission is to encourage and empower people to prepare for their own death and live a fuller life
Director Carlos Gonzalez (he/him/el) is the Operations Coordinator for Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery, a non-profit community cemetery which is based in Gainesville Florida. He holds a BFA from the Pacific Northwest College of Art and had taught previously before entering the natural burial movement. Carlos is keen on educating people about body disposition options, land conservation/restoration practices and building a strong community in and out of the state of Florida.
Director Freddie Johnson is one of the founders of Conservation Burial Inc. (CBI), the non-profit organization that manages Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery (PCCC). He served as CBI's Board President for three years prior to being CBI’s Executive Director from 2011-2021. He helped found the non-profit Conservation Burial Alliance (CBA) in 2016 and presently serves on that Board of Directors. Freddie has been deeply engaged with the home funeral and natural burial movement since 2006 and has given hundreds of presentations about burial and funerary history, caring for our own dead, and conservation burial grounds.
Director Lee Webster is a lifelong conservationist, author, website and graphic designer, internationally known public speaker and educator about funeral reform, particularly home funerals and green burials. Her work with major end of life and death nonprofits inform her contributions to the CBA, including leadership positions is Green Burial Council International (former President and Vice Chair for Education), National Home Funeral Alliance (former President and Vice President), National End-of-life Doula Alliance (co-founder, treasurer, and director), NHPCO Doula Council (co-founder), and NH Funeral Resources, Education & Advocacy (Director).
Board service is a privilege, your organization is a gift,
and public service is core to the betterment of our society."
— Joan Garry
