I didn’t grow up assuming I’d become a funeral director. My father was clear about that. There was never any expectation that we’d join the business. He wanted us to find our own way first.
But I found my way back.
I joined CPJ Field in 2005 as a Business Development Manager and was promoted to Managing Director in 2008. From day one, I worked closely with my father Colin, right up to his retirement. Visiting funeral homes together. Leading team meetings. Learning by watching him do what he did best. Talk to people. Listen to people. Care about the detail nobody else would notice.
His advice has stayed with me. Treat everyone as you’d like to be treated yourself. Carry out every task as if a member of their family were looking over your shoulder. Simple things. But they hold.
When COVID-19 hit, funerals didn’t stop. Families kept grieving. Funeral directors kept turning up, every day, under conditions none of us had faced before.
From 2021 to 2023, I led the funeral sector’s response to the pandemic, working with the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Cabinet Office. One of the things I’m most proud of is achieving recognition for funeral workers as key workers under the emergency legislation. That meant early access to vaccinations for the people who never stopped showing up.
In the 2022 New Year’s Honours, I was awarded an OBE for services to the funeral profession during COVID-19. It was presented by His Majesty King Charles III at Windsor Castle, in his first investiture ceremony as King in England. My wife and two daughters were with me. That day belongs to them as much as it does to me. And to every colleague who kept going when the world felt like it was falling apart.
I became President of the National Association of Funeral Directors in 2016, the youngest person ever to hold the role. During my presidency, I led the debate on regulation of funeral service, lobbied government for reform of the Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment, and worked with Marie Curie to produce a definition of funeral poverty.
Since then, I’ve been the principal funeral profession representative on the Child Funeral Fund, heavily involved in death certification reform leading to the Medical Examiner system, and led consultations with the FCA on regulating the pre-need funeral market. I serve on the Ministry of Justice’s Burial and Cremation Advisory Group and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Funerals and Bereavement. I’ve been a spokesperson across BBC, Sky News, ITV News, and ITV Good Morning Britain.
Internationally, I’ve presented to funeral associations in New Zealand, the USA, and Europe. I chair the NFDA’s Global Advisory Group and am incoming European Group Secretary for Selected Independent Funeral Homes. The challenges across the world are often the same. The solutions are often different. There’s always something to learn.
We’re a family-owned and family-run funeral service company, based on strong values, with a clear purpose. Caring for the living and the dead.
We have seven non-negotiable basics. They relate to the simplest yet most important points of courtesy and service to grieving families and to the people who have died. The corners that can be cut in funeral directing are typically unseen by the public. When they come to light, people are rightly outraged. Transparency matters.
Our aim is to ensure that every funeral, from the most elaborate to the most modest, reflects how every life is unique. Our philosophy is simple. If I can, then I will.
As Co-CEO alongside my brother Charlie, I represent the tenth generation of the Field family in the funeral profession. My sister Emily leads our marketing and community work, including Never Alone, our programme tackling loneliness and isolation across all 36 of our funeral homes.
CPJ Field has been approached to sell many times. Every generation has made the same choice. We keep this business in the family.
Our family motto is Care Above All. Three words that say what this business does. Not service above all. Not profit above all. Care. That’s the standard every generation has inherited and every generation has chosen to keep.
Understated excellence. Do unto others as you would have done unto you. Because every life is unique.
Foundation Certification in Funeral Service. Diploma in Funeral Directing. International Professional Achievement Certificate (NFDA). BA (Hons) Business Administration. Diploma in PR. Upholders’ Master Certificate in Funeral Directing.
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