By Thomas A. Parmalee
Milestone Funeral Partners expects to serve almost 6,000 families at its funeral homes and another 400 families through its cemeteries at 64 partner firms in all six New England states and New York this year.
But Michael Martel, the company’s co-founder and CEO, suggests he’s only getting started.
“It wouldn’t be unreasonable to see Milestone doubling in size within the next two years,” he said, noting that the business also has a third-party crematory unit that proudly assists independently owned firms.
The company based in Auburn, Maine, however, would not even exist if he and fellow co-founder Timothy “TJ” Smart had not dreamed big while at Service Corporation International.
“We worked together in some capacity or another for over 25+ years,” Martel said. “In the years where we both had leadership roles leading Main Street markets, we’d have these eight-hour car rides to Pennsylvania and West Virginia. On those rides we’d talk about our markets, our goals and what more we could do if we built it ourselves.”
The foundations of partnership, with real equity for funeral home leaders, the concept of private equity support, and the notion of heavy employee development have their roots in those long conversations, he said.
“By the time 2021 rolled around, we built our investor presentation, and somehow convinced our wives that we could take this risk,” Martel said. “Ultimately, we left our jobs, company cars, and years of security … and we took that risk.”
Their spouses showed unwavering support – and the duo found early-phase investors who embraced their vision.
“By the summer of 2021, Milestone was evolving, and by October 2021, we closed our first acquisition,” Martel said.
Given that both men did not grow up with family members who owned funeral homes and neither one came from families of means, what they have built at Milestone is impressive.
“We had our savings accounts and our 401Ks, and that was it,” Martel said. “But in combination with private equity support, Milestone came to life.”
A Job Becomes a Passion
Martel, who has been married to his wife, Jennifer, for more than 20 years, has a daughter and two sons.
“Being a father remains my most important ‘job’ and the one I’m most proud of,” he said.
A proud member of the Auburn community, he landed his first job in funeral service at the The Fortin Group Funeral Home, which has two locations in Maine, at age 15. At the time, the business was owned by Roger Bouffard, Ray Perreault and Alan White.
“These men had a tremendous impact in my life,” he said. “What started as a car washing, maintenance gig quickly turned into working visiting hours and funerals.”
One skill that worked in his favor was his ability to speak French, which paid big dividends at the French-Catholic Funeral Home.
“Frankly, it was fun,” he said. “I remember after working visiting hours all weekend (2-4 p.m., and 7-9 p.m. each day), I went home and was telling my father, ‘I can’t believe they pay me for this! I saw this person, and that person, and it was so nice talking to them, and helping them.’ Long story short, Roger Bouffard became a mentor who would influence me throughout my life. Under his guidance, I went to mortuary school and then I went to the University of Maine for a bachelor’s in business. “
It was during those years that Service Corporation International bought the firm – and so began his career at the largest provider of funeral home and cemetery services in the world.
From 1999 to 2021, Martel held several leadership roles across the northeast and mid-Atlantic at the company, including location manager, sales manager, area sales director, market manager, and market director – serving on numerous committees, project groups and in training roles along the way.
As far as working at SCI, he and his co-founder have only good things to say about their former employer.
“It’s funny, as my partner TJ Smart and I started this company back in 2021, I think people were often surprised that we had nothing negative to say about SCI,” he said. “The reality is that I was given the opportunity to learn a tremendous amount about our profession, about the cemetery side, about the preneed sales side and crematories. All in a real experiential way. Responsibilities were afforded to me and people took chances on me. I was blessed to meet and be influenced by amazing leaders and mentors at SCI.”
But eventually, it was time for Martel and Smart to strike out on their own – and seeking assistance from private equity was the way to do it.
“You know, people have mixed opinions on the influx of private equity into funeral service, but I think it has provided liquidity and access to capital that just didn’t even exist in our space 10 years ago,” Martel said. “Every owner has had to take a note from a seller, had a rich uncle, or secured some sort of funding to support them when they started out.”
In Martel and Smart’s case, they partnered with Andrew Bender at Bender Equity, who he’s grateful “took a huge bet” on their vision.
“As a small family office, his approach aligned so well with our Milestone family,” Martel said. “In 2024, we outgrew Bender Equity and once again found an amazing capital partner in Rosewood Private Investments. While Rosewood is a larger firm with far more significant capital resources, they too are family held and align so nicely with the private, small, family model that we believe in and that resonates so well with the funeral home owners whom we partner with.”
Martel could not have found a better business partner than Smart – who has lived up to his last name.
“We built this vision together, and we work incessantly on Milestone every single day,” he said. “We both communicate differently, have different styles and even demonstrate our leadership differently. But at its very core, our values are 100% aligned at every level, and we are laser focused on the exact same goals.”
That working relationship aligns with Milestone’s vision of being a small, private organization where professionals can come from diverse backgrounds and approach client families and communities in different ways, Martel said.
Martel counts himself incredibly lucky to have had such great mentors over the years, including Roger Bouffard of The Fortin Group and Bruce Goddard of SCI.
He called Bouffard a “natural mentor” who wants everyone around him to be successful. “He’s kind, he understands community engagement, and he taught me that ‘there is enough sunshine for everyone,’” Martel said.
That means there is room for new players to enter the funeral profession, he said. “We don’t have to be nasty toward competitors,” he said. “We don’t even have to be negative. There is room for everyone if you focus on your firm, your families and your own path to success.”
As for Goddard, the retired SCI executive taught him innumerable lessons about leadership and “picking yourself up,” Martel said.
He explained, “A message from Bruce was making sure you genuinely give employees the ‘gift of significance.’ Which means whenever you are at a firm, remember that everyone matters. You engage everyone, (not just the manager/owner/funeral director). Everyone at that firm contributes in a meaningful way, and as a leader, it is imperative that you seek to understand that and build a meaningful connection.”
Other great mentors – or people he has just plain admired – have driven Martel on his quest to succeed.
“Chris Sasso at SCI was one of the people I always held on to a pedestal as the preeminent business development professional,” Martel said. “Years, and years ago, he helped me have a glimpse at what a truly professionalized business development program looks like – one where relationships are of the utmost importance, and everything else falls into place as a result.”
He continued, “Lastly, Steve Shaffer (the president, CEO and board chair of Homesteaders Life Company) is a man I’ve admired for over 20 years,” he said. “Even though I was at SCI, I was a big spectator of Keystone’s growth. Later, at SCI, I got to see and feel the culture that he had built when SCI acquired Keystone. It gave me a vision for being able to build a funeral company that grew through acquisition yet still had that culture of a smaller entity. I was always so impressed with how that played out at Keystone.”
As the co-founder and CEO of Milestone, Martel feels like he’s made good on his vision of creating a best-in-class company by putting funeral professionals first and creating an environment where they can stretch and get creative with client families.
“A focus on understanding client families, communicating better, managing change, and a desire to learn what truly matters to a family is fundamental,” he said.
Racing to the Top … Not the Bottom
It’s important to pay attention to the financials, which is why Milestone strongly believes in “realistic pricing” on cremation.
“This may be unpopular, but I believe the ‘race to the bottom’ is very harmful to our profession, and as a leadership team, we coach our local partners on this,” he said. “I’m personally of the opinion, that when so many pieces of end-of-life care and late-in-life care are valued at five, six, or seven thousand dollars, it makes absolutely no sense that a high-quality cremation experience delivered by a licensed professional shouldn’t be priced at five, six, or seven thousand dollars.”
Martel and Smart also spend a lot of time thinking about business culture.
“Our employees come first,” he said. “We work hard and we’re gritty. Partnership isn’t just a word for us, it’s a real part of our culture. We partner with owners to secure and evolve their legacy. We partner with students and interns to become the professionals they want to become. We offer innumerable equity options and funding options. One thing we don’t talk about enough is that we change our funeral home and cemetery manager’s lives by granting real equity and enabling these hard-working men and women to become real owners.”
Moving forward, Milestone will continue to focus on expanding in New England and New York, as the company knows those states and “their peculiar laws” well, Martel said. “Additionally, the disciplined, regional approach adds to our small, private, Milestone family feel,” he said. “I could see us eventually expanding to Pennsylvania and New Jersey for the right opportunity but that certainly is not a short-term goal.”
One thing, however, is virtually certain: Milestone Funeral Partners will continue to expand.
“While other firms are slowing or shutting down acquisitions, Milestone is doing the opposite,” Martel proclaimed. “Our balance sheet is healthier than ever, our capital commitment is the most significant in our short history, and our newly secured credit facility with Bancorp has us extremely bullish on acquisitions.”
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