Kevin Crute Joins LifeArt UK as Chief Executive

LifeArt UK, one of the UK's leading manufacturers of environmentally friendly coffins, caskets and urns, has announced that Kevin Crute has joined them in January 2020 as their new Chief Executive.

Kevin brings with him years of experience working at the highest levels of the UK funeral profession. Following his time as Head of Funerals at Central England Co-op and his tenure serving on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Funeral Directors, Kevin will help LifeArt UK expand even further.

Kevin's main focus will be on branding, logistics and continued adoption of LifeArt UK's eco-friendly coffins, which produce up to 87% less greenhouse gas emissions and are reported to take up to 80% fewer trees in their production.

This appointment will allow Simon Rothwell, LifeArt UK joint venture partner, to dedicate his time to strengthening customer relations, stakeholder strategy and engaging more closely with the industry and Government.

Commenting on his appointment, which follows a year of sustained growth amongst independent funeral directors for LifeArt, Kevin said: “It’s an incredibly exciting time to be joining LifeArt. The LifeArt team is transforming the funeral market, having started an important conversation about the sustainability of coffins and emissions from the cremation of coffins.

“Over the coming year, my aim will be to ensure more funeral directors offer LifeArt as a first choice and equip arrangers with the tools they need to help families personalise the funeral they are arranging, whilst also understanding the implications of cremating chipboard and MDF.

“I will also be building new processes into the business to enable us to capitalise on our current growth trajectory. We will be seeking to establish new manufacturing and distribution sites to help to retain agility as we expand.”

LifeArt International Executive Chairman Mike Grehan said Kevin’s appointment marked the start of an exciting new chapter for the business in the UK. “Kevin is hugely respected across the British funeral sector and his experience in running large, multi-site businesses is second to none, making him an ideal fit for us.

“We are delighted to welcome Kevin to the LifeArt team and over the coming months we’ll be refining and implementing a strategy that will drive significant growth throughout the UK and Ireland.”

Simon Rothwell noted the appointment was great news for LifeArt and its customers, saying “I’m looking forward to working alongside Kevin to enhance the customer journey and build upon the relationships we’ve developed over the past two years.

“It also provides an opportunity to strengthen our Government and industry stakeholder activity and that’s going to be a growing area of focus for me in 2020, as LifeArt looks to make cremation emissions a national policy issue.”