Chptr Brings Together Death Care and Modern Media Leaders to Accelerate Modernizing the Obituary for Families and Funeral Homes

Six Respected Industry Leaders Join Chptr’s Advisory Board, Representing MKJ Marketing, Heritage Family, Homesteaders, and Independent Funeral Service

New York, NY — December 18, 2025 — Chptr, the community storytelling company helping funeral directors bring a more modern, meaningful, and accessible obituary experience to the families they serve, today announced the formation of its Obituary Advisory Board. Six of the profession’s most trusted operators, directors, marketers, and strategists have joined the board, including Glenn and Marilyn Gould of MKJ Marketing, Lindsay Granson of Heritage Family, Courtney Gould Miller of Homesteaders, Ricardo Carrillo of Carrillo Funeral Home, and Timothy Szczesny of DeMunn Funeral Home.

The group joins existing advisors and media leaders Christian A. Hendricks of the Local Media Consortium and Laura Clark of NPGCO. The Advisory Board’s formation marks an important milestone as Chptr scales nationwide to help funeral homes bring a modern obituary experience to the communities they serve. The group brings decades of operational, marketing, and family-service expertise and will advise Chptr on ensuring its broadcast, social, and video offerings remain simple, dignified, and deeply aligned with how funeral directors work.

Advisory Board members bring deep and complementary expertise across death care and modern media:

● Glenn and Marilyn Gould have spent more than 30 years building MKJ Marketing into one of the most trusted agencies in the profession, advising hundreds of funeral homes on strategic growth and family experience.

● Lindsay Granson, Chief Operating Officer of Heritage Family, leads one of the nation’s most respected multi-location funeral home organizations and brings deep expertise in family service excellence.

● Courtney Gould Miller, Chief Growth Officer at Homesteaders, has overseen strategic partnerships and product development supporting thousands of funeral homes.

● Timothy Szczesny, owner of DeMunn Funeral Home and Cremation Service, provides the essential perspective of an independent funeral director serving families every day.

● Ricardo Carrillo, owner of Carrillo Funeral Homes in Dallas, is a leading Latino funeral service voice whose experience supporting Hispanic families strengthens Chptr’s understanding of diverse community needs.

● Laura Clark serves as Chief People Officer at News-Press & Gazette Company, bringing expertise in organizational development and operational excellence across media properties.

● Christian A. Hendricks, representing the Local Media Consortium, brings deep expertise in digital media strategy and local news operations, strengthening Chptr’s alignment with community-focused publishers.

“Chptr, with our nationwide network of local media partners, was built to serve the people who serve families,” said Rehan Choudhry, CEO of Chptr. “Each member of this board has earned trust in the profession across the country. Their guidance ensures we stay grounded in the realities of funeral service and continue building tools that support directors in meaningful, practical ways.”

Chptr transforms family photos and memories into broadcast-ready video tributes that notify the wider community across local television, social media, and digital channels. By handling production and coordination directly with families, Chptr keeps the process simple for funeral directors while reinforcing their role as trusted community leaders.

“Directors need tools that help families feel supported without adding more steps to an already demanding day. Chptr delivers that,” said Lindsay Granson, COO of Heritage Family. “They help families reach the community while taking the production and coordination off our plate. We can feel the difference in how families respond and how confidently our directors offer the service.”

The Advisory Board has already begun advising on expansion priorities, partnership standards, and enhancements that address key challenges directors face in arrangement rooms. Their insight will guide Chptr as it continues to scale its offerings nationwide.

“Obituaries are a cornerstone of community journalism, and bringing them into video makes them even more powerful,” said Christian A. Hendricks, president of the Local Media Consortium. “That’s why we’ve engaged with Chptr. It transforms a simple notice into a story the whole community can see and feel. It’s exactly the kind of service local media was built to deliver.”

About Chptr

Founded in 2023 and headquartered in New York, Chptr is the community storytelling company that helps funeral homes bring modern memorialization to the families they serve. Through its Broadcast, Social, and Video offerings, Chptr transforms photos and memories into video tributes that reach thousands, helping communities gather, show support, and honor every life properly. Chptr partners with funeral homes and media companies across the United States, coordinating directly with families to keep workflows simple for funeral directors. Learn more at www.chptr.com.

Anthem Partners Announces Partnership with Chptr to Expand Digital Memorial Offerings

Frisco, TX – Anthem Partners, a premier operator of funeral homes and cemeteries across North America, has announced a new partnership with Chptr, a cutting-edge digital platform dedicated to honoring and celebrating lives through personalized storytelling. This collaboration will introduce Chptr’s suite of digital memorial tools—including custom video tributes, service listings, and digital death notices—across select Anthem locations, offering families new ways to share memories and preserve legacies online.

“We’re launching this exclusive partnership with a phased, market-by-market rollout,” said Chad Jackson, Executive VP of Operations at Anthem Partners. “Our initial focus will be on three strategic markets where we anticipate a strong reception from the families we serve. This initiative not only enhances our service offerings but also strengthens our brand presence in communities.”

Chptr’s platform empowers funeral professionals to deliver beautifully branded memorial videos and digital death notices that can be shared across social media and local news outlets. By blending storytelling, video, and community engagement, Chptr helps extend the reach of each service and brings people together in remembrance.  The platform also reduces the time and cost historically associated with obituary writing and slideshow creation.

“This partnership aligns perfectly with our mission to bring ease and comfort to families during difficult times,” Jackson added. “Chptr complements the digital transformation underway across our network, offering a meaningful and lasting way for families to honor their loved ones.”

In addition to enriching the memorial experience, Chptr provides funeral homes with new revenue opportunities and innovative tools that go beyond traditional obituaries. Its integration of video and social connectivity offers a compassionate and comprehensive approach to memorialization.

Rehan Choudhry, Founder and CEO of Chptr, shared his enthusiasm for the collaboration: “With Tribute Spotlights, we are creating a monumental shift in how obituaries and death notices are shared with the world.  Very soon, funeral directors across Anthem’s portfolio can offer families a low- or no-cost death notice broadcast on their local news station—paired with a beautiful memorial video for the service and a feature on that station’s website.”

Every Tribute Spotlight is produced within 48 hours of the family’s first meeting with their funeral director and airs on local television for three consecutive days. These broadcasts give communities a consistent place to celebrate the lives of the people who have shaped them.  The platform eliminates the financial and emotional friction families once faced when trying to share the life of someone they loved.

“This partnership reflects Anthem’s deep commitment to serving families with compassion and innovation,” Choudhry added.  “Their willingness to push boundaries for the benefit of those they serve is inspiring, and we’re honored to be part of it.”

“This association is a natural extension of our mission to innovate the funeral profession to meet the ever-changing needs of families,” Jackson concluded. “Chptr will help the Anthem Partners locations deliver a personalized, enduring tribute to every life we honor.”

About Anthem Partners:  Anthem Partners is a privately held operator of funeral homes and cemeteries across North America. Founded by industry professionals and backed by long-term investors, Anthem is committed to honoring legacy, respecting community traditions, and supporting funeral professionals through sustainable growth. To learn more, please visit www.anthempartners.com.

About Chptr:  Chptr is a storytelling platform for the modern age, dedicated to preserving and sharing stories in ways that transcend traditional memorialization. By transforming memories into beautifully crafted narratives, Chptr helps families and communities honor the past, connect in the present, and ensure stories live on forever. Through broadcast video technology and immersive storytelling, Chptr bridges the gap between personal history and public remembrance.  Learn more at www.chptr.com.

Tribute Technology and Chptr Launch Nation’s Largest Broadcast Memorial Platform Across U.S. TV Markets

Waunakee, Wis. — August 19, 2025 — Tribute Technology and Chptr have announced a major expansion of their successful Tribute Spotlights partnership, bringing modern video memorials and obituaries to more families and communities than ever before. Starting today, the nation’s largest broadcast memorial platform will deliver these dynamic tributes across TV stations and local news websites in markets nationwide, uniting the timeless act of remembrance with the powerful reach of local media.

Through expanded partnerships with leading broadcast groups — including Hearst, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Gray Television, Paramount, and others — funeral homes can now offer families professionally produced video death notices and tributes that air on local television and appear on station websites. 

Aired TV tributes are produced, distributed, and broadcast daily, with every tribute linking directly back to the funeral home’s website, driving valuable traffic, strengthening community connections, and extending the legacy of loved ones far beyond the service. A new integration with Tribute Technology websites allows funeral homes to send information for aired tributes with just a click of a button on their website admin panel, reducing duplicate entry.

Additionally, obituaries on the Tribute Technology website platform will soon automatically publish to the local television website and link back to the funeral home at no additional cost. This drives awareness among community members and increases traffic and SEO value for each obituary, which is a big step in helping funeral homes get ahead of obituary scrapers.  

Reaching Families and Communities at Scale

Over the next several months, the new digital companion features to the Tribute Spotlights broadcast memorial experience will roll out to hundreds of local news websites and will include obituaries automatically posted to the news site. This rollout provides a radically new way to ensure sustained visibility of memorials for families and consistent awareness for participating funeral homes.

“Obituaries are no longer just words on a page — they’re gateways to connection,” said Courtney Gould Miller, President of Commercial Markets at Tribute Technology. “Tribute Spotlights amplifies the memorial experience and empowers families to foster those vital relationships, reaching more people in the community, especially with loose ties. And with our exclusive feature of auto-publishing obits on TV news sites, families’ stories extend further than ever before.”

Built for Funeral Directors

Tribute Spotlights will be fully integrated in all Tribute Technology-powered funeral home websites, fitting seamlessly into existing workflows without requiring new systems or additional staff effort by partner funeral homes. Tribute’s extensive obituary syndication network powers the scale of this initiative, enabling Chptr to bring video memorials to hundreds of media markets nationwide and making the service immediately available to Tribute Technology’s network of more than 9,000 funeral homes.

“We’re helping funeral homes reestablish themselves as the center of remembrance in their communities, where stories are honored and shared far beyond the service itself,” said Rehan Choudhry, CEO of Chptr.

From Obituary to Community Connection

Tribute Spotlights, powered by Chptr, transforms traditional obituaries into compelling video death notices that broadcast on local television and appear prominently on station websites, ensuring every life story reaches the people who need to hear it. Beyond broadcast reach, Tribute Spotlights serves as a comprehensive memorial platform: automatically generating social-ready visuals for seamless family sharing, preserving memories through lasting digital tributes, and offering white-glove tribute video production that captures the essence of a life through personalized storytelling and professional filmmaking.

About Chptr

Chptr is a storytelling platform for the modern age, dedicated to preserving and sharing stories in ways that transcend traditional memorialization. By transforming memories into beautifully crafted narratives, Chptr helps families and communities honor the past, connect in the present, and ensure stories live on forever. Through broadcast video technology and immersive storytelling, Chptr bridges the gap between personal history and public remembrance. Learn more at www.chptr.com.

About Tribute Technology

Tribute Technology is dedicated to empowering funeral professionals with best-in-class technology solutions. Serving over 9,000 end-of-life providers worldwide, Tribute Technology’s innovative software and services — including website platforms, marketing solutions, management software, online planning, memorial keepsakes, and payment processing — help funeral professionals save time and focus on supporting families. To learn more, visit: https://www.tributetech.com/tribute-spotlights.

Tribute Technology and Chptr Partner to Launch Tribute Spotlights: A New Way to Honor Loved Ones Through Local TV Stations 

WAUNAKEE, WI — Tribute Technology, a leader in digital solutions for the funeral profession, has partnered with Chptr, a next-generation storytelling platform, to launch Tribute Spotlights, a first-of-its-kind service that allows families to honor their loved ones through local television broadcasts in over 200 markets. 

By expanding memorialization beyond traditional formats, this exclusive partnership provides a meaningful and far-reaching way to celebrate life, reinforcing the role of funeral homes as trusted partners in remembrance. 

“With the decline of newspapers, families have lost a way to share news of a death with the entire community and tell the story of their loved one through the obituary. Online obituaries are important as the home of condolences, but it’s only useful if the public knows that the death has occurred,” said Courtney Gould Miller, president of commercial markets at Tribute Technology. “Tribute Spotlights broadcasts the deaths in the community and the event information, reminding the public of the value of commemorating lives lived and increasing attendance at the funeral.” 

Funeral homes and families alike benefit from Tribute Spotlights. For funer professionals, the service offers a seamless way to enhance their offerings wit adding additional work. Each Tribute Spotlight prominently features the funeral home’s branding, reinforcing its role in honoring lives and strengthening its presence in the community. By airing twice daily for up to 10 days, these digital tributes are not just told, but shared far and wide, helping to inform communities of upcoming services and ensuring loved ones are honored with dignity and respect. 

For families, Tribute Spotlights provide a new and deeply personal way to memorialize those they have lost. Unlike traditional static obituaries, these televised tributes allow for a visually compelling and shareable way to tell a loved one’s story. Families receive

a lasting digital keepsake that can be revisited and shared, ensuring memories are preserved for future generations. 

The visibility of these broadcasts also encourages greater community support, increasing attendance at services and allowing more people to come together to celebrate a life well lived. With a simple and stress-free process, families can create a meaningful tribute without the burden of additional planning. 

“At Chptr, we believe stories should live forever,” said Rehan Choudhry, CEO and founder of Chptr. “This partnership allows families to share their loved one’s memory in a way that transcends time—through television, digital platforms, and the collective memory of their community.” 

Local television remains a trusted and widely watched source of community information. By featuring these televised tributes, stations can engage viewers with meaningful, locally relevant content while generating advertising opportunities that support their operations. Tribute Spotlights also creates a new revenue stream for local TV stations, providing valuable human-centered content that resonates with their audiences. 

Tribute Spotlights are now available to funeral homes nationwide. To learn more about offering this service to families, visit https://www.tributetech.com/tribute-spotlight 

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About Tribute Technology 

Tribute Technology’s mission is to bring the best technology to all funeral homes, to help communities around the world celebrate life, and to pay tribute to loved ones. Over 9,000 end-of-life providers already use Tribute Technology’s software and product offerings, includi websites, marketing services, management software, online planning, personalized memorial keepsakes, payment processing, and other solutions. Tribute Technology is focused on innovating to help funeral directors save time on tasks, so they can focus more on connecting with the families who have lost a loved one. The company aims to give funeral directors everything they need to run their business in one place, making their lives easier.

About Chptr 

Chptr is a storytelling platform for the modern age, dedicated to preserving and sharing legacies in ways that transcend traditional memorialization. By transforming memories into beautifully crafted narratives, Chptr helps families and communities honor the past, connect in the present, and ensure stories live on forever. Through broadcast video technology and immersive storytelling, Chptr seamlessly bridges the gap between personal history and public remembrance. Learn more at http://www.chptr.com.

Chptr Joins Forces with Foundation Partners Group to Unveil Innovative Video Memorial Service, Bringing Tributes to Funeral Homes, Local Media and Families Across America

NEW YORK (Oct 22, 2024) — Chptr, a company dedicated to honoring life stories through thoughtful video memorials, today announced an agreement with Foundation Partners Group that will enable Foundation Partners’ local funeral directors to offer bereaved families Chptr’s personalized, high-quality video tributes, service listings and death notices.

With more than 250 funeral homes, cremation centers and cemeteries across 21 states, Foundation Partners is the second largest provider of funeral services in the United States.  The announcement comes on the heels of Foundation Partner’s launch of Afterall, a new digital hub that integrates content, community, connection and commerce into a simple and seamless experience for families.

Rolling out next month with Tulip, Foundation Partners’ direct-to-consumer cremation service, and in select funeral home locations, the new platform allows funeral professionals to provide families with branded memorial videos that capture the essence of their loved ones along with digital death notices. Using Chptr’s groundbreaking technology, videos and death notices can now be shared on local media and TV stations nationwide, allowing communities to come together in remembrance.

“Chptr’s platform offers Foundation Partners a thoughtful way to both generate new revenue streams and provide families with necessary and beautiful new products to remember their loved ones,” said Rehan Choudhry, CEO and co-founder of Chptr. “By integrating video and social connectivity, we’re offering funeral homes a comprehensive and compassionate approach to memorialization that goes beyond traditional obituaries. Together, we’re helping funeral directors meet the evolving needs of their communities.”

This collaboration ushers in a new era of remembrance where memorials come to life with photos, videos, stories and memories shared by loved ones. These dynamic tributes offer vibrant and evolving reflections of lives well-lived, far surpassing the static obituaries of the past.

“Combining Chptr’s cutting-edge technology with Tulip and our extensive network of funeral homes will transform how families and communities connect, share stories, and celebrate the lives of loved ones,” said Lee Senderov, Foundation Partners’ chief marketing and digital officer. “This partnership enhances our mission of bringing ease and comfort to families, while also introducing new avenues for digital storytelling.”

About Chptr

Chptr is a community-powered platform that partners with broadcast, digital, and print publishers to tell local and individual stories, fostering connections and creating lasting legacies. Through AI, Chptr transforms crowd-sourced stories, photos, and videos into compelling tributes, preserving memories for future generations. The platform collaborates with leading news organizations, enabling local businesses and individuals to share their narratives widely. Backed by top investors and experts, Chptr is building the world’s largest repository of memories, revolutionizing how stories are shared and remembered within communities. www.chptr.com

About Foundation Partners Group   

Winter Park, Florida-based Foundation Partners Group is one of the industry’s most innovative providers of funeral services and the second-largest funeral home group in the country based on the number of families served. Foundation Partners owns and operates a network of over 250 funeral homes, cremation centers and cemeteries across 21 states. Our deep understanding of technology and customer experience-centered approach allows us to deliver truly innovative and compassionate care to the families we serve.  Visit www.foundationpartners.com to learn more.