Building North America's First Transcontinental Funeral Service Brand, SCI Adds George Owens to Marketing Team

HOUSTON, March 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Service Corporation International , North America's largest provider of funeral, cremation and cemetery services, today announced the appointment of George J. Owens as Managing Director of Marketing. This newly established position aligns with the company's strategy to enhance the identity of its Dignity Memorial(R) brand, North America's first coast-to-coast funeral service brand.

In his leadership role, Owens will guide SCI's continuing work to identify and address the needs of customers for their network of more than 2,000 funeral homes and cemeteries throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Owens joins SCI after 12 years of service at J.D. Power and Associates, where, among his varied responsibilities, he led operations and management of a number of major syndicated studies, including the Initial Quality Survey that has become the accepted industry standard for measuring vehicle quality. Additionally, he managed the J.D. Power and Associates Certified Retailer and Certified Dealer programs, which recognized the nation's outstanding automotive retailers and dealers based on the voice of the customer.

Most recently, his J.D. Power and Associates responsibilities included directing the design and development of effective customer satisfaction and loyalty programs for a variety of corporate clients, including SCI.

Commenting on Owens' move to SCI, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Phil Jacobs said, "George brings incredible skills and knowledge to our marketing team. He is a champion of customer satisfaction and will help advance the Dignity Memorial brand throughout all of our customer segments."

Owens holds a bachelor's degree from California State University, Northridge, and a master's in business administration from Pepperdine University, where he has also served as an adjunct professor of marketing research. While at J.D. Power and Associates, Owens was also a frequent public speaker on matters of interest to the marketing community.

Of his new assignment, Owens said, "SCI is poised to make a dramatic difference in an industry ready for new ideas and new approaches to providing customer satisfaction. I welcome the opportunity to be part of this future."

Service Corporation International, headquartered in Houston, Texas, is North America's leading provider of deathcare products and services. At December 31, 2006 we owned and operated more than 1,600 funeral homes and 400 cemeteries (of which over 230 are combination locations) in 45 states, eight Canadian provinces, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Through our businesses, we market the Dignity Memorial brand which offers assurance of quality, value, caring service, and exceptional customer satisfaction. For more information about Service Corporation International, please visit our website at http://www.sci-corp.com/ . For more information about Dignity Memorial, please visit http://dignitymemorial.com/ .

For additional information contact: Greg Bolton - Director / Corporate Communications (713) 525-5235 Investors: Debbie Young - Director / Investor Relations (713) 525-9088