Stephen Jenkinson

Author of Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul, Stephen Jenkinson is a spiritual activist, teacher, author and ceremonialist. Stephen teaches internationally and is the creator and principal instructor of the Orphan Wisdom School, founded in 2010. With Master’s degrees from Harvard University (Theology) and the University of Toronto (Social Work), he is revolutionizing grief and dying in North America.

Ira Byock, MD

Dr. Ira Byock is a leading palliative care physician, author, and public advocate for improving care through the end of life. He serves as Executive Director and Chief Medical Officer for the Institute for Human Caring of Providence Health and Services, a 35 hospital health system serving communities across 5 western states. Dr. Byock advances efforts to measure, monitor and improve whole-person health care systemwide. He is a practicing physician and is based in Torrance, CA. He is the author of The Best Care Possible.

Caleb Wilde

Caleb Wilde is a sixth generation funeral director and embalmer in Pennsylvania. He has a graduate degree in theology, a certificate in Thanatology, and is working on post grad degree in the Death, Religion and Culture program at Winchester University.

He writes the extremely popular blog “Confessions of a Funeral Director” at www.calebwilde.com and has started Deathub.com, a public forum for stories and posts about death and dying.

Kate Kalanick

Kate Kalanick, the Executive Director of the Green Burial Council, is a business professional with over a decade of leadership experience and a lifetime of interest in the health of our natural environment. Born and raised near the ocean in Central California, Kate understands the necessity of making conscious choices in one’s life. Having had her own experiences with end of life arrangements, Kate brings with her a sincere understanding of how important having the opportunity to exercise those same conscious choices beyond life can be.

Jeffrey Marks

Jeffrey Marks has studied the art and science of mediumship for over 16 years. He has been a student of James Van Praagh and received advanced mediumship certification through Lisa Williams. He is an award winning bestselling author of 3 books, including The Afterlife Interviews: Volumes I & II and was a select presenter at this year's national Afterlife Awareness Conference. He works to break new ground in understanding the nature of consciousness and the afterlife with his research.

Sarah Treanor

As an emerging fine art photographer and writer, Sarah Treanor is interested in the concepts of life and death. Her most recent series, entitled "Still, Life", provides a unique glimpse into the private yet universal experience of grief. Widowed at 29, she chronicled her journey through loss with self-portraits and accompanying essays. The result is a deeply emotional and psychological exploration of what it means to grieve.

Jethro Heiko

Jethro Heiko is the CEO of Common Practice, leading the company’s mission to make better conversations about advance care planning, serious illness, and death a common practice. Jethro has over 20 years of experience applying his skills in community organizing, strategic nonviolence, and bereavement to authentically and deeply engage individuals, organizations, and communities. His company has created the game "My Gift of Grace."

Heidi Connolly

Heidi Connolly, accomplished “ghost” writer, editor, and self-publishing consultant, is the recipient of several awards for her newest book Crossing the Rubicon: Love Poems Past the Point of No Return. This book. which she wrote with the inspiration of her deceased husband Randy, is a "naked story of loss and renewal." She passionately shares her skills in writing with conscious intent with aspiring authors.

Moran Zur

Moran Zur is the CEO and Founder at SafeBeyond, a “digital time capsule” and online platform that allows users to record and store video, audio and written messages to be accessed posthumously by their heirs and loved ones. The idea for SafeBeyond was inspired by the sense of tragic uncertainty faced by Zur when his wife was suddenly diagnosed with brain cancer. Concerned that his then three year-old son would miss out on a lasting relationship/connection with his mother, Zur left his job of five years as CEO of one of the leading and largest investment houses in Israel, to create SafeBeyond.

Monica Williams-Murphy MD

Monica Williams-Murphy, MD, is an award-winning writer and board-certified emergency physician who is on staff at Huntsville Hospital. She is the author of "It's OK to Die," which is devoted to transforming the end of life into a time of peace, closure and healing. She lectures widely about topics such as changing American beliefs about death and the crucial importance of Advance Directives.

Kevin J. Haselhorst, MD

Dr. Kevin Haselhorst practices emergency medicine at Abrazo Heath hospitals in Arizona. He is the author of Wishes To Die For, a contributing writer for The Arizona Republic’s “Ask the Expert” column, an end-of-life coach, and a public speaker on advance care planning and his brainchild, the Universal Healthcare Directive. He also blogs on websites for Wishes To Die For, The Conversation Project and Death Café.

Donna Belk

Donna Belk is the Vice President of the National Home Funeral Alliance and a hospice volunteer, Threshold Choir member, funeral celebrant, death midwife, and home funeral guide. She offers Beyond Hospice, an 88-hour online certificate program for death midwives and home funeral guides. Donna served on the NHFA board at its inception and shares her business background, organizational and strong leadership skills.

Terri Daniel

Terri is an ordained interfaith minister, a clinical chaplain and an intuitive counselor who assists dying and grieving individuals to discover a more spiritually spacious understanding of death and beyond.

Her unique perspective on birth, death and the journey of the soul helps the dying and the living find meaning and healing through meditative and ritual practices that open a conduit to other dimensions. Terri is the author of 3 books, the founder and president of the Afterlife Education Foundation and producer of the annual Afterlife Awareness Conference.