By Thomas A. Parmalee
In November 2024, death-care professionals heard some rather unwelcome news: Bill Williams announced that he’d be retiring as the CEO of Funeral Services, Inc. after many years at the helm.
Williams, a licensed funeral director and straight shooter who never wavered from telling funeral professionals the truth (even when they did not want to hear it), built FSI into a powerhouse, having joined the company as president in 2002 before assuming the additional title of CEO in 2006.
Fortunately for FSI clients, however, at the same time they learned Williams would be transitioning to a consulting role, they also discovered that Jack Hirsch, who has more than 20 years of financial experience, including regulatory reporting, trust services, asset management and specialized solutions for endowments and foundations, would be assuming the role as president of FSI.
“Bill and I have worked closely together for the last several years, and I’ve admired the growth at FSI that’s taken place under Bill’s leadership,” Hirsch said. “As I transition into this role, I look forward to building upon the company’s success and continuing the commitment to our clients.”
The retirement of Williams and the ascension of Hirsch were just the latest significant developments that will have implications for clients at FSI, which was acquired by Argent in November 2022.
So, who is Jack Hirsh and why is he the right person to help lead FSI into the future?
Edited excerpts from our interview with him are below.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Beth – my wife – and I recently celebrated more than 20 years together; our children are a more recent family addition at four and seven years of age.
Our oldest son joins our family from South Korea, and we welcomed the arrival of our second son soon after his homecoming.
This season of life has been a fun and challenging one, incorporating the dimension of parenting into what was already an adventurous lifestyle. I love learning new things and accepting new challenges. Parenting supplies these in abundance, which is why I enjoy it so much. Whenever we begin to think we’re doing a better job with something, just beginning to excel, the page turns, and it’s time to learn something new.
Similarly with hobbies I like new things. I’ve been tinkering in aviation for a few years, and I have a new preoccupation with agriculture that’s beginning to bloom.
You were a communications chief with the U.S. Marines for several years, which sounds like a fascinating job. What were some of the lessons that you learned in the Marines?
As a teenager, I was interested in technology and military communications – and electronics allowed me to explore that interest while keeping me close to the warfighting mission of the Marines. The interest in military service and the Marines derived in part as a continuation of a family legacy and secondarily because I was looking for a sort of rite of passage as a young adult.
As the Marine in charge of our communications and electronics equipment, I learned a lot about the equipment we used, but there were lots of life lessons scattered throughout. Many weren’t easily learned.
One that I remember involves prioritizing the team and mission above oneself. On a particular occasion, we had an assignment overseas that required nighttime foot movement near the Euphrates River. Our mission required us to pack everything necessary to sustain us for several days. As the communications chief for the operation, it was my responsibility to evaluate the mission requirements and select appropriate equipment. It was a lot of equipment. Rather than spreading it across four men, I put it all in my rucksack.
Off we marched under cover of night. Alert but enjoying the coolness of evening. Several kilometers into our movement, we encountered formidable muddy terrain. This was a special variety of mud. I’m convinced that it was created especially for Marines, swallowing ankles, shins and knees. In a miscalculating step, I was overcome by the mud, gravity, and physics.
My ankle twisted in an unanticipated way. Meanwhile my rucksack, with me attached, cascaded backward. One of my arms was folded under me attempting to dampen the impact. I clutched my rifle above the muck and mire in my free right hand. Our platoon sergeant was nearby and orchestrated a hasty security perimeter around me. Grounding his rucksack, he reached for mine, still attached to me. With one hand lifting, he realized how heavy it was. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. His face said everything. Reprimanding. Disapproval.
He engaged with both hands and separated me from the ruck. Quietly he surveilled the contents, removed several, and placed them in his. Doc pulled my ankle out of the mud and tried to remove my boot on the ankle he resurrected from the mud. It was evident doing that would be hard because of the swelling and our terrain. He asked me if I could continue. I indicated I could. Our perimeter collapsed and we carried on. Into the night. Through the mud. Team and mission come first. Not ego. Every Marine learns that. Some like me learn it the hard way. Leverage the strength of every person on your team.
Before working at Argent, you spent almost 20 years with Regions Bank. How did that happen?
After I finished my undergraduate degree, I was looking for work in accounting. My wife, fiancée then, made an introduction to one of her regular customers at the restaurant where we both worked.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, he was a regional executive for a division that supplied investment management and trust solutions for institutional clients. Shortly thereafter, I was employed.
Time has passed since then, but I’ve been supporting this industry for a little over 10 years now. Something that stands out to me is how vulnerable the relationships are. What I mean by that is professionals in this industry are part of a community that shepherds people and families through some of life’s most difficult moments. You must be qualified and called to do something like that well. Our customers are some of the most unassuming, thoughtful and caring people you will meet. One of the things we say a lot around the office, is “you first.” I think this industry says that, too. A lot can be learned from this industry though how it prioritizes the customer.
What has been your main role at Argent since joining the firm, and how closely did you work with FSI before recently being named president?
My job at Argent has focused on equipping and enabling the team to continue helping our customers’ scale, grow and optimize their individual businesses. Our teams have also been interested in capitalizing on what it means for Argent and FSI to work together more closely. We’ve been interested in how we contribute to the industry ecosystem and what our relationship is with other providers. I’ve worked with FSI since joining Argent, but our cooperation has naturally intensified to this present point.
For those who may not be fully aware, what services does FSI provide and how many clients do you work with? What states are you in?
Our customer base is scattered across more than 30 states under approximately 1,300 rooftops. We simplify their operations by supplying them with preneed contract recordkeeping through a proprietary application. We also assist in their revenue cycle by helping them capture consumer payments and secure trust payments when those are eligible to be collected. Our relationship with trustees, our internal client services bureau, and on investment in technology delivers scale, economics and efficiency that may be hard or undesirable for operators to replicate in house.
Tell us a little more about how you interact with clients.
Our team is most successful when we help operators spend less time on the things they least like to do in the office. If there’s frustration building over recordkeeping, compliance or trust administration, we can help. We also have a team that has been around for a long time, is well connected, and we’ve done this in a lot of different places. We sometimes meet new operators or people trying to do things in new states. Sometimes they have novel ideas about how to engage with consumers. We have a platform and a team that can incubate those ideas and approaches and help your business grow. We can also make the right connections for operators who may be new or find themselves in an unfamiliar landscape.
How does FSI fit into Argent as a whole and what synergies are there between your different businesses?
It’s probably an unorthodox place to begin, but I’d say these are like-minded teams and that’s fundamentally important to me. Argent has said for a long time, “you first.” FSI has the appeal it does today because the business was built helping one rooftop at a time. It’s also evident we both shared customers. Argent and FSI did different things in the value chain. The acquisition allowed us to vertically integrate into a team that does more together. That integration sits within a more complicated provider ecosystem. FSI enjoys cooperative relationships with other money managers and trustees whom we are committed to growing our relationship with and we aspire to improve their functionality and capability the same way we do that for operators.
What has impressed you the most working with Bill Williams, and what role, if any, will he have with the company moving forward as he transitions out of his CEO role.
Let me begin with Bill’s role. It’s a bit of a joke around the office that nobody ever retires at FSI. Bill, like others who have “retired,” makes appearances at the office whenever he likes to. We’re routinely talking and spending time together. This gets back to company culture and the fact that there’s an emphasis on doing things the right way. Bill has graciously agreed to offer insight and wisdom in an advisory role through our consulting agreement. Bill is a bit of a maverick, and if you’re not sure you’ve got his attention try telling him “No.” I’ve observed Bill to be someone who has a vision, he’s passionate about it, and he puts everything he’s got into execution. That kind of energy, guts, and determination pushes a team and customers higher.
What will be your role as president … and what about the CEO position?
CEO is something that retires with Bill. It’s a special jersey and it belongs to him. There are a lot of things I’m interested in as president. Most of all, I’m interested in our loyal customers. My role as enabler, equipper, and connector will be important in this next chapter. I’m focused on these themes as we begin our important work together as a team.
Are there any goals or challenges you want to highlight?
We’re evaluating a few opportunities this year and beyond. There are several audiences we aim to reach more intentionally this year. Another thing I’ve celebrated is the fact we look at customer feedback every week here. Not surprisingly, we receive a lot of compliments. That’s worth celebrating, but we’re also trying to tap into what needs are developing in the marketplace. How do we anticipate that and how do we stay on the edge of developing solutions that meet expressed and unexpressed needs? I said Bill was a maverick earlier and that’s an entrepreneurial spirit we aim to sustain at FSI
What’s a book that you suggest funeral professionals read or a resource that they take advantage of?
I think one of the most overlooked resources today is that of undivided attention. We naturally have to multitask periodically, but we are failing as a culture to tap into the power of attention. I think this industry does better than most.
The person across from you, do they have your attention? Your undivided attention? It can be difficult. I’d also ask if we’re spending enough time meditating on the things that matter most. How do we translate those meditations and plans to action? Harness your own attention.
When enjoying something from the business genre, I have a bias for things that intersect some element of military experience. Two I like are “Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World” by General Stanley McChrystal and “Objective Secure: The Battle-Tested Guide to Goal Achievement” by Nick Lavery. These are full of powerful illustrations, to Nick’s point, that pass the test. S. Truett Cathy wrote several books and I’m careful not to prescribe a particular one. Each appeal to nuanced interests. However, Cathy had a lot to say about the customer, and I’ve found his perspective refreshing. These take a detour from many of the industry specific things we oftentimes focus on. I think they do well nevertheless, instilling wisdom on the topic of teamwork and customer service.
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