About Us
Meet the team behind America’s first Memorial Forests and the future of end-of-life planning
OUR MISSION
Our Guides
Our caring team supports families throughout their end-of-life planning journey.
Our Forests
Caring for our forests is a privilege we hold with deep responsibility.
We preserve and protect land with significant conservation value, safeguarding it from potential development. Through careful acquisition, detailed forest management plans, and perpetual care ensured by Stewardship Trusts, we create thriving sanctuaries for wildlife and future generations.
Our Impact
For each Memorial Tree chosen, we partner with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant additional saplings to reforest America. As of 2024, we’ve planted 649,457 saplings in honor of our customers.
649,457
HONOR OF BETTER PLACE
FORESTS CUSTOMERS
Our Partners
Our History
For nearly a decade, Better Place has supported families looking for a natural way to return to the earth. Better Place Forests was founded in 2015 by three friends who believed there had to be a better way to honor and remember loved ones than a cemetery. When they founded Better Place Forests Point Arena, a redwood forest on the Pacific coast, they knew it was something special. Read more about how it began.
Today, the Better Place community is growing by the thousands every month. Whether looking for help in planning for end-of-life, memorializing a loved one, or choosing to have ashes spread in a Better Place Forests, our families love our nature-based approach to end-of-life.
Our passion for helping people plan for death as we live our fullest lives inspires everything we do.
Our Team
Meet the people dedicated to making end-of-life better.
Adam Tibbs
Chief Executive Officer
Adrienne Liggett
Copywriter
Ashleigh Covarrubias-Montes
Natural Resources Coordinator
Ashley Brown
Memorials Coordinator
Austin Vella
Senior Advisor
Chad Barnes
General Manager Better Place Forests Berkshires
Gillian Nye-Hoke
Community Experience Manager of Forest Memorials
Ineke Van Waardenburg
Chief Operating Officer
Jessica Smith
Forest Host Better Place Forests Point Arena
Jess Wakefield
Director of Partnerships, Community & Education
Jesse Reichenstein
Product Manager
Jessica Nobriga
Senior Advisor
Jimmy Westenberg
General Manager Better Place Forests Rock River
Kali Bushey
Memorials Coordinator
Karen Peterson
Senior Customer Care Specialist
Kelly Julson
Integrated Marketing & Events Coordinator
Lark Ryan
Director of Brand
Libby Friede
Director of Marketing
Melanie Mitzel
Vice President of Revenue
Natalie Foote
Director of Forest Operations
Sarah Griswold-Hall
General Manager Better Place Forests Litchfield Hills
Steven Muhlhauser
Senior Manager of Customer Care
Tim Rogers
Partnerships
Tori Nonnemacher
General Manager Better Place Forests St. Croix Valley
Reimagine end-of-life with care, compassion, and a deep connection to nature. We’re here to guide you every step of the way.
