Company: Confidential private-equity-backed funeral and memorial-services platform
Board base: Kolkata, West Bengal, with operations in Delhi NCR and eastern India
Sector: Funeral coordination, cremation support and memorial services
Appointment: Independent Director, Non-Executive
Intended committees: Audit, Consumer Trust & Ethics Committee Chair
Time commitment: 22–28 days annually, including operating and municipal-partner reviews
Application deadline: 11 October 2026
Expected appointment: January 2027
Company context
The platform coordinates funeral transport, documentation, cremation or burial arrangements, rituals, memorials and selected prepaid plans through owned teams and verified local partners. It is professionalising a fragmented category in which customers make urgent, emotional decisions and often lack price transparency.
Market hint: A technology-enabled booking layer, city operating teams, municipal and religious-facility interfaces and prepaid planning may resemble a small group of emerging end-of-life platforms. Founder, sponsor and service names are withheld.
Board mandate
The director will make dignity, price fairness, custody of remains, prepaid money and partner conduct non-negotiable foundations of scale. The role requires commercial judgement without treating bereavement as an ordinary conversion funnel.
Strategic priorities
- Establish chain-of-identity and custody from collection through transport, preparation, facility handover, cremation/burial and return of ashes or documents.
- Require clear package pricing, third-party charges, taxes, optional services, refunds and escalation before customer commitment wherever circumstances permit.
- Govern prepaid plans through ring-fencing, actuarial or fulfilment assumptions, cancellations, portability, beneficiary changes and provider failure.
- Set partner standards for vehicles, personnel, facilities, identification, handling, hygiene, documentation, conduct and grievance response.
- Review municipal, hospital, police, religious-facility and local-agent interactions for lawful fees, anti-bribery and documented authority.
- Protect death certificates, identity, family, payment, location and religious information through strict access, retention and cyber controls.
- Measure complaints involving delay, identity, pricing, coercion, service mismatch, discrimination and disrespect; escalate severe events directly.
- Stage-gate city expansion using local partner quality, facility access, call response, cultural competence, cash and repeatable supervision.
- Govern marketing, hospital leads, search advertising and referral relationships so urgency and grief are not exploited.
- Build workforce support, training and psychological safety for employees routinely exposed to trauma and irregular hours.
Decisions expected at Board level
- Whether to suspend a city after a chain-of-custody or identity failure.
- Whether prepaid funds and promised services remain adequately protected under rapid growth.
- Whether a referral channel creates exploitative or unlawful incentives.
- Whether a partner’s local access compensates for weak conduct and documentation.
- Whether the company should enter a sensitive religious or municipal setting without adequate cultural and operating capability.
Candidate profile
Essential: Former healthcare, insurance, consumer services, hospitality, social infrastructure, regulated field operations or trust-services CEO/COO/CFO, ethicist or Board director; sensitive-customer conduct, partner networks, incident response and prepaid liability judgement.
Preferred: bereavement services, assistance businesses, municipal partnerships, safeguarding, data privacy, consumer remediation, PE-backed scale-up.
Eligibility and conflicts
Active IICA Databank inclusion and test/exemption evidence are required for this independent seat. Candidates must disclose hospital, insurer, municipal, religious-institution, referral, prepaid-plan, facility, transport, investor, auditor and competitor relationships.
First-year outcomes
- Verified identity and custody controls across every service route.
- Transparent pricing and effective severe-complaint escalation.
- Protected prepaid funds with tested fulfilment scenarios.
- Partner accreditation based on dignity, legality and operational evidence.
- Expansion paced by cultural and supervisory capability.