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Meet Your ICFA Staff
Name:
Robert M. “Bob” Fells
With the ICFA since:
February 1983. I’m hoping this turns into a steady job.
Job title:
External COO and general counsel
What you do for our members (primary duties):
I wear a lot of hats, sort of like the Wizard of Oz. I’m responsible for maintaining and improving relationships with federal and state government agencies, the news media, consumer organizations and related trade associations.
I testify as requested by the ICFA leadership before regulatory/legislative agencies; advise on general legal matters relating to the operation of the association and the industry we represent.
I monitor, analyze and report to the membership on federal legislative, regulatory and litigation developments, and I review selected state law issues. I respond to members’ request for information; maintain a legal and legislative clearinghouse; draft reports, testimony, position papers, legal briefs and speeches and write the “Washington report” column that appears in ICFM. I am also a contributing editor to the ICFA WIRELESS e-mail newsletter that we publish bi-weekly.
I am president and general counsel to the ICFA Service Bureau Inc., a subsidiary corporation that operates the Credit Exchange Plan. Also, I volunteer as assistant secretary and national coordinator of the Cemetery Consumer Service Council, a consumer assistance group administered by the ICFA.
Professional background prior to coming to the ICFA:
I worked for six years as an administrative legal assistant at a large Washington, D.C., law firm. That experience gave me an excellent opportunity to learn the nuts and bolts of practicing law and litigating big antitrust cases. I also worked on the FTC Funeral Rule proceedings, which gave me my first experience with the issues concerning the funeral profession.
What do you like most about working at the ICFA?
Two things. First, the members are great. I know that I work FOR them but they have always made feel that I am working WITH them, and I appreciate that. Second, the association has given me many opportunities to grow with a variety of responsibilities in several areas. You don’t find that kind of opportunity in a lot of employment situations.
What’s one thing you’ve learned about cemeteries or funeral homes that you didn’t know when you came to work here?
I have learned that there’s a lot more to operating a cemetery than mowing the grass and occasionally straightening out a marker. It’s like running a town or a small city, with a similar infrastructure. With respect to funeral homes, I actually knew a little bit about them because the father of a girl in my seventh- and eighth-grade classes operated a funeral home right across the street from our school. She used to tell me what it was like.
What’s your answer to people who say, “You work WHERE?”
I have fun with that. If they are smiling, I say, “I’ll bet you’ve never attended a funeral.” They almost always agree and then ask me how I knew that. I tell them that if they had ever been to a funeral, they wouldn’t think where I work was so funny. When they don’t smile, I ask them if they have been involved with a funeral, and usually they say that they have.
"I wrote a book on early 20th century actor, author, playwright, and film maker George Arliss because I wanted to read a book about him and got tired of waiting for somebody else to write one. It was published last year." — Bob Fells
(Bob’s book is available at www.amazon.com)
Outside interests/hobbies/accomplishments:
Raising three children, I have been involved as a Scout leader and in Little League. I am active in my church, teaching religious education classes
Since high school I have been an amateur film archivist and historian. I began collecting silent films and early sound films (“talkies” we call them) and then started a film society in college, where I showed them theatrically. For years I was a volunteer producer of a film retrospective series for the Arlington County Public Library in Virginia. The library recruited pianists for my silent films. We once performed a silent film score composed by Sigmund Romberg that had not been played in over 60 years.
My greatest accomplishment definitely occurred on August 3, 1974, when I married Maureen.
contact Bob Fells via e-mail
or by calling 1.800.645.7700, ext. 212
Copyright ICFA 2005
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