New MBNA President Sean Longstreth, CM, AICA shares how growing up in a fifth-generation monument business shaped his passion for memorialization. In this conversation with host Mike Johns, he reflects on craftsmanship, the value of MBNA membership, and why personal outreach and collaboration are essential to strengthening the monument industry.

• (00:00:05) - Monument Matters
• (00:00:49) - President of Monument Builders of North America Sean Longstreth
• (00:04:04) - MBCN: The Real ROI of Membership
• (00:06:43) - The Best Way to Get a Member to Join MBNA
• (00:08:25) - What are the biggest opportunities for monument builders?
• (00:11:59) - MBNA President reflects on the association's future
• (00:16:55) - MVNA President's message
• (00:21:11) - Monument Matters

Despite rising cremation rates, many families still want a permanent place to remember their loved ones. In this episode of Monument Matters, Mike Johns and Cristine Bouwkamp explore burial trends, green burial, and why meaningful memorialization remains essential for grief, remembrance, and connection across generations.

• (00:00:05) - Monument Matters
• (00:02:03) - Cremation and Burial: What's the Connection?
• (00:05:11) - Do cemeteries care about cremation or green burial?
• (00:08:17) - Questions about Green Burial
• (00:09:33) - Cremation Rates and Monument Builders
• (00:12:02) - Questions about funeral and memorialization options
• (00:17:47) - Gen Z's Love of Home and Tradition
• (00:19:31) - What should monument builders think about memorialization in a cremation world
• (00:22:02) - Monument builders: More Community Involvement
• (00:25:10) - Why Does Permanent Memorialization Matter?
• (00:26:03) - Monument Matters: Cremation

Dr. Tanya Marsh joins Monument Matters to unpack what consumer research really reveals about cremation, burial and emerging options like green burial and human composting. The data challenges assumptions and highlights a key opportunity: education, flexibility and creative memorialization may matter more than industry narratives suggest.

• (00:00:05) - Monument Matters
• (00:01:35) - Why are Americans so fond of cremation?
• (00:02:59) - Cremation and the future
• (00:03:24) - Casket burial and cremation: First choice
• (00:06:59) - Cremation and Memorialization: The Difference
• (00:13:19) - Cremation Monument Building
• (00:17:34) - Cremation and burial: Do people prefer cremation?
• (00:19:42) - The Survey of Death and Property
• (00:22:55) - In addition to the preference research,
• (00:23:53) - Law School's Growing the Diversity of Students
• (00:25:01) - Monument Matters: Death and What Follows