By Thomas A. Parmalee
With more than 100,000 burials, hundreds of annual services, and a 185-year legacy, Woodland Cemetery & Arboretum in Dayton, Ohio, operates on a significant scale. Leading it requires discipline — and, in Sean O’Regan’s case, a willingness to rethink industry norms.
That includes the relationship between many funeral homes and cemeteries.
“The battles over money are silly as far as I am concerned,” he said. “We share the same objective: to serve families at the worst time.”
That perspective — clear-eyed, pragmatic and rooted in service — captures how O’Regan approaches cemetery leadership.
As president & CEO of the cemetery since 2012, he brings an outsider’s discipline, a technologist’s mindset and a long-term steward’s sense of responsibility to one of the region’s most historic properties.
“I came to the industry from the outside,” he said. “And I was amazed to see this conflict, if you will, between funeral homes and cemeteries.”
Much of the conflict results from funeral homes and cemeteries competing on the same turf, he observed – although this can vary by state, depending on the laws.
“In Ohio, we can both sell vaults, urns and caskets,” he said. “If they sell a vault or urn, they took that sale from me and vice versa. In the case of casket sales, I believe that it is best left to the funeral home to assist the family, so we don’t provide that service even though permitted in Ohio.”
Woodland’s relationship with funeral homes is better than most other cemeteries in his area, he said. “They understand that when they come through the gate, my team is in charge at that point,” he said.
He’s made it a priority to forge stronger relationships with funeral homes. Hosting continuing education programs for their staff has been an initiative that has paid dividends.
“We recently had about 40 funeral directors here,” he said. “We provide the speakers, food and beverages, and they get CEUs at no cost. We do this to build rapport.”
A Complex, Living Institution
Woodland is not a small or simple operation.
The 235-acre property includes roughly 160 developed acres and is approaching 113,000 burials across full-body interments, cremation placements, niches and ground burials. The cemetery conducts between 475 and 525 services annually and operates its own crematory.
Layered onto that operational scale is historical significance. Woodland is more than 185 years old, with more than 80,000 monuments, over 3,000 trees, six miles of roadway and additional acreage reserved for future development.
Maintaining the balance between running an active cemetery while protecting its historic nature and Level 2 arboretum status has been central to O’Regan’s leadership philosophy – and his background in technology has been critical in helping him succeed.
O’Regan entered the profession through an unconventional route. In the 1990s, he operated a side business converting cemetery records into digital formats — early spreadsheets and databases.
“I assisted HMIS on a couple of large projects, which allowed me to learn more about the administration side of the cemetery and provided opportunities to meet several of the leaders in the industry,” he said.
That early exposure revealed both the richness of cemetery archives and the inefficiencies embedded in legacy systems.
“I joined the industry officially in 2008, and I would say the biggest surprise to me was the challenges impacting cemeteries to move forward, primarily in terms of doing things differently and searching for alternatives to improve,” he said.
The transition from technology into death care was not just a career shift — it was an opportunity to apply structured thinking to an industry often resistant to change.
“In the beginning, the move from technology to death care, the low-hanging fruit for me was implementation of technology to assist administration, operations and sales,” he said. “Another benefit in coming from outside the industry is that I had several more questions than answers in the beginning, which allowed me to build a mutual respect and trust with my peers and team.”
But O’Regan is quick to note that technology alone is insufficient to enhance cemetery operations.
“Plan before implementing by gathering input from management and staff,” he said. “Understand the ‘as is’ process and where the inefficiencies or bottleneck reside. Then design the improved process as part of the technology implementation. I have seen too many cases where technology implementations migrate existing problems to a new platform.”
In the end, “people, process, technology – in that order – is the requirement for success in my opinion,” he said. “My core principles include having a team built on mutual respect, understanding that we always need to be improving and evolving, we must be profitable, and most importantly, we must care and be proud of our service.”
Lessons from Mount Auburn
Before arriving at Woodland, O’Regan spent formative years at Mount Auburn Cemetery, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the nation’s most respected institutions, serving as vice president of cemetery services for four years.
“I was so fortunate to enter the industry at a leading institution like Mount Auburn, a blessing really,” he said. “The management team, staff, volunteers and trustees were very open and supportive in welcoming me aboard while understanding that I had zero background in cemetery management but offered fresh perspectives on sales, administration and operations.”
He was not hired to stabilize the organization, but to challenge it.
“I was not brought in to simply fill a role at Mount Auburn. I was brought in to lead change, suggest improvements and provide a fresh perspective,” he said.
The experience sharpened his strategic framework, which he carries into Woodland today, with his biggest takeaway from his time there being this: “Maintain relevancy, improve experience and efficiencies and appreciate the principal of perpetuity,” he said.
Leaving was a tough decision.
“I very much enjoyed going to work each day,” he said. “My team, my peers and trustees of the institution were all wonderful, and we achieved so much during my brief time there even with the economic challenges of that time period.”
But when the trustees of Woodland conducted a nationwide search for their next president, O’Regan’s name made the list.
“Upon touring Woodland, I was impressed with the grounds, but it was an old chapel that had been converted to office space that caught my eye,” he said. “I told the trustees that it was a beautiful structure that needed care and was being misused as office space,” he said.
The trustees of Woodland challenged him – and themselves – to make it happen. “I loved the challenge and the opportunity to improve the grounds, restore the chapel and establish a master plan going forward for Woodland,” he said.
Operational Discipline and Financial Strategy
O’Regan’s approach to management reflects a structured, metric-driven mindset. He emphasizes tracking performance by keeping track of revenue, inventory, operations, finance, endowment and cultural engagement.
Among the most impactful operational improvements at Woodland:
- Implementation of a formal work order process to improve communication and turnaround times.
- Adoption of CRM systems to enhance client interaction and reporting.
“The work order process was a significant process change that ultimately improved communication between operations and administration, improved turnaround time, tracking and customer satisfaction,” he said.
Financially, Woodland operates as an endowed cemetery with diversified revenue streams, including burial rights, service fees, crematory income, donations and perpetual care earnings.
O’Regan watches all the numbers and advises other cemeterians follow suit.
“On an annual basis, we review inventory in terms of development needs and service requirements,” he said. “We evaluate unit pricing based upon demand and adjust as needed. We utilize donations to support maintenance needs for the grounds and historic structures. In regard to the perpetual care endowment, the board of trustees has instituted a more flexible investment policy that is based upon the basic principal of 75% equities and 25% bonds, but we can flex the amount up to 90% equities and 10% bonds if that is more prudent.”
Over the past five years, Woodland has maintained a portfolio made up of 90% dividend paying stocks and 10% in bonds, he said.
“This has allowed Woodland to experience positive growth in perpetual care value while also supporting operations, with an average spend rate of 2.8%,” he said. “Ohio has a total return spending policy of 5% of the perpetual care fund based upon the average of the last 12 quarters. Woodland places the remaining amount, approximately 2.2% annually in a capital fund with the same investment policy of the perpetual care fund.”
While he admits some may consider this “too aggressive,” he thinks it makes sense. “The difference in Woodland’s approach is the equities are longstanding dividend paying stocks,” he reiterated. “With the understanding of perpetuity, the cemetery is the ultimate long-term investor.”
Asked where some cemeteries fall short, he identified pricing, margins and inventory management as potential areas of improvement.
“A number of cemeteries could implement more cremation options (priced appropriately), service offerings at the cemetery and additional burial rights,” he said. “Depending upon location and constituency, establishing a foundation for financial support is a consideration for some.”
Key metrics and performance indicators cemeteries should track include:
- Revenue: Sales versus budget and versus previous year, at-need versus preneed, FSR results and average contract value.
- Inventory: sold and remaining by type and area, adjust price to demand.
- Operations: Overtime spend, work orders open/closed, service volume, safety and equipment.
- Finance: Actual versus budget, operating revenue and margin and cost per acre of maintenance.
- Endowment: Spending policy, investment policy and endowment per acre.
- Preservation: Projects completed and deferred and monuments restored.
- Cultural: Visitor attendance, tours/presentations and events.
- Foundation: Donations, volunteer hours and campaign status.
Cemeteries would be well served to focus on operational inefficiencies revolving around areas such as deferred maintenance equipment, endowment management and inventory development, he said.
“The challenge to implement/afford technology such as cemetery management packages or CRM is very real for smaller/older cemeteries,” he said.
The Beauty of Woodland
Being on the National Register listing of historic places, two listings in the case of Woodland, is an honor, O’Regan said.
“One of the main criteria of the register is ‘historic,’ which generally means old!” he said. “Maintaining a 185-year-old institution is challenge enough but add to that we are still a very active cemetery, approximately 500 services per year, and you can appreciate the efforts of Woodland’s staff.”
Over 113,000 burials, entombments and inurnments have taken place at the cemetery, he said. “There are approximately 150 active acres to care for, with over 80,000 monuments of some sort on the property along with over 3,000 trees and an unspecified number of shrubs,” he said. “Added to the task list is an additional 75 acres in reserve or planned development and approximately six miles of roadway to maintain.”
While there are so many beautiful areas of the cemetery, he particularly likes the historic Odd Fellows section, which is a dedicated area for members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which is still in existence today.
“Here at Woodland, they have a very large section, but they had not done a burial since 1970 … and so a fair amount of land was going unused,” he said. “So, we reached out to the Odd Fellows, who are no longer in Dayton but about 35 miles away.”
Ultimately, Woodland erected a monument with the Odd Fellows logo, and with its permission, added the names of all individuals the fraternal organization provided burial services for from the mid 1800s to 1970. “We put the names of everyone who has been buried on the monument, which is significant,” he said.
In return, the Odd Fellows returned the unused burial rights back to Woodland.
The Cremation Equation
Woodland’s crematory, established in 1970 as the first in Dayton, remains a key component of its operations. It functions as a trade crematory, primarily serving funeral homes and medical schools.
The crematory does not compete with funeral homes but offers pricing that allows firms without a crematory to remain competitive.
“Right now, we are closing in on 1,000 cremations per year … at one point, we were doing 1,200 cremations per year, but we lost one client to another trade crematory,” he said. “We pride ourselves on service level and commitment versus volume.”
At the same time, O’Regan sees broader industry challenges tied to cremation — particularly as it pertains to the placement of cremated remains. This is an area that concerns him greatly, which is why he’s overseen the development of cremation gardens and other options that cater to families who prefer cremation.
A standout example is the Fountain Garden, which is a cremation area that was created after an unexpected discovery.
“My son was visiting me … I had just recently divorced, and he was spending the early part of the summer with me,” O’Regan said. “I took him down to our pond area. There was a formation of rocks there that looked like it may have meant something back in the day, and the area was overgrown with shrubs and trees. It was not doing well.”
When O’Regan handed his son – then a senior in high school – a shovel and told him to get to work, his boy seemed less than pleased.
“But he called me within five hours of giving him that shovel, telling him I needed to come down and see what he found,” he said.
He had discovered a small fountain.
“As we dug it out, we saw it was a small fountain with another fountain that poured into that … we dug it all out, restored it and created the water feature again,” he said.
When Fountain Garden opened, O’Regan wasn’t sure how it would be received.
“There was an area behind the main pond we turned into a cremation garden with inground scattering,” he said. “You have the right to be buried between two fountains with your name and dates on a large shared obelisk.”
Today, more than 100 names are on the monument and O’Regan thinks it’s one of the prettiest spots in the cemetery.
“To this day, I still remember the excitement of my son as he was digging out the whole fountain out of that stream that led to the pond. He went from being angry to really wanting to know what he had found,” he said. “The superintendent had been at the cemetery for 50 years and had never seen that fountain — this was in 2014.”
The fountain had been running on city water, but the plumbing was redone, so now it flows from the pond and circulates back and forth.
The project reflects a broader philosophy: blending landscape, history and modern disposition options to create meaningful spaces.
Serving a Changing Family
O’Regan is direct about the demographic and cultural shifts reshaping cemetery service. “The family dynamics and composition of today are vastly different than the 1970s,” he said.
Divorce, geographic dispersion and nontraditional family structures complicate decision-making. Combined with rising cremation rates, these changes require new approaches.
“Cemeteries need to understand the needs of a fragmented family today,” he said. As a result, he recommends having:
- Clearer authorization processes.
- Expanded cremation options.
- Enhanced service offerings, including livestreaming.
- More proactive communication about advance planning.
Relevance as a Central Challenge
If there is one existential issue O’Regan returns to, it is relevance.
“Members of the public are increasingly asking, ‘Do I need a cemetery?’” he said. His answer lies in positioning cemeteries as more than places of interment.
“I’m a believer of history and storytelling to support the legacy and relevancy of cemeteries,” he said. “In addition to caring for the dead, cemeteries should create an environment to support the community via education and providing a place for a casual recreation space or for reflection.”
At Woodland, that translates into more than 200 tours annually, public events, and community engagement initiatives designed to bring people onto the grounds.
“Our most popular tours are lantern tours in the fall, which often sell out months in advance,” he said.
Leadership and Legacy
O’Regan’s leadership philosophy is rooted in both discipline and empathy. He looks for sincerity, dependability and a “caring nature” in his team members — qualities he believes cannot be easily taught.
“I’m not convinced that can be developed,” he said. “You either have it or you don’t.”
After more than a decade at Woodland, his sense of accomplishment is tied less to infrastructure and more to people.
“I’m really proud of the team at Woodland, both current and past, and how they have contributed to the success of this organization,” he said.
Definitive areas of pride include:
- Investing in the landscape and level two arboretum status.
- The professional manner and caring service provided by all staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- New disposition options around cremation, which have been adopted by staff and families.
- The restoration of Woodland’s Tiffany Chapel, remodeled administration building and the master plan for buildings and grounds.
Still, the work is far from finished.
“I think I still have some rubber on the tires, and the best is yet to come,” he said.
What motivates him remains simple.
“It’s the opportunity to make a difference and assist a family each day,” he said. “I absolutely enjoy the opportunity to come to work each day. I hope that at the end, whenever that might be, that I have left a few fingerprints at Woodland and possibly one or two at Mount Auburn.”
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