Carriage Services, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Carriage Services first quarter 2023 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there'll be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 1 on your phone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Steve Metzger, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel, and Secretary. Please go ahead. Steve Metzger, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel, and Secretary. Steve Metzger, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel, and Secretary. Steve Metzger, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel, and Secretary. Steve Metzger, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel, and Secretary.

Steve Metzger, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel, and Secretary. Steve Metzger, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel, and Secretary. Steve Metzger, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel, and Secretary. Steve Metzger, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel, and Secretary. Steve Metzger, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, General Carlos Quesada, President and Chief Operating Officer, and Keyon Gramaya, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. On the Carriage Services website, you can find our earnings press release, which was issued yesterday after the market closed. Our press release is intended to supplement our remarks this morning and include supplemental financial information, including the reconciliation of differences between GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. Today's call will begin with formal remarks from Mel, Carlos, Keyon, and me, and will be followed by a question and answer period. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that during this call, we'll make some forward-looking statements, including comments about our business and plans, as well as 2023 guidance. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties and only reflect our view as of today. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, factors identified in our earnings release, as well as in our SEC filings, all of which can be found on our website. Thank you all for joining us this morning, and now I'd like to turn the call over to Mel.

Good morning, everyone. It brings me immense joy to join you all today following weeks of rigorous rehabilitation. The support and thoughtful prayers and wishes I have received from so many people across our company during my recovery have been nothing short of heartwarming, even humbling, and I will be forever grateful for each and every one of them. Although my rehab journey to full recovery continues, I am fueled with unwavering motivation and optimism. by the overwhelming encouragement from everyone at Carriage, but especially from our senior executive team, Carlos, Steve, and Kian, who together with me comprise our strategic vision and principles group. I formed this group of senior leaders almost three years ago as part of my succession plan to serve as a vehicle from which I would develop and mentor the future executive leaders of Carriage. and after working with Carlos, Steve, and Kian intimately over the last two months on various issues for Carriage, I am delighted to report that the future executive leadership at Carriage is indeed in great hands. Nearly 33 years ago, i embarked on a journey to build a great company in this industry not to be the biggest but to be the best today i am proud to see that dream come to fruition his carriage has evolved into a high-performance culture company and despite our challenges which we view as opportunities our progress is a testament to our unyielding commitment to excellence in our vision and mission of being the best Thank all of you for your interest in our company, and I will now pass it on to Carlos for more color on the first quarter performance.