Responsible for Major Market Operations, Senior Vice President Sumner J. Waring, III also has oversight of SCI's Business Development group as well as Human Resources. He joined SCI in 1996 as Area Vice President of Operations when SCI acquired his family's funeral business. He was appointed President of the Northeast Region in 1999 and President of the Pacific Region in September 2001. In September 2002, Mr. Waring was appointed Vice President, Western Operations, a position he held until May 2004 when he was appointed Vice President, Major Markets Operations. He was promoted to Senior Vice President in 2006. Mr. Waring holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Stetson University, a degree in mortuary science from Mount Ida College and a master's in business administration from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.