Meet Our Staff
Meet Our Staff
Outstanding Service is Our Priority
Allen Family Funeral Options is proud to offer our Guarantee of Excellence to every family we serve. Quite simply, we promise to meet or exceed your expectations in all areas of our service to you, or we will make an appropriate adjustment to our fees.
The highest level of care starts with the quality staff members who will meet with your family. When you lose someone you love, you need someone who will listen to you and provide a healing and meaningful experience. Our highly qualified staff is ready to assist you throughout this difficult time.
Rick Allen is a 30-year veteran of the funeral industry. He graduated from the Dallas Institute of Mortuary Science and is a licensed funeral director and embalmer.
His history in the industry includes serving as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Pierce Chemicals/Royal Bond, Inc. (a specialty chemical manufacturing and distribution company selling exclusively to funeral homes and cemeteries), Vice President of Corporate Development and Corporate Operations for Carriage Services, Inc. (a public-traded company operating funeral homes and cemeteries across the U.S.), co-founder of Harvester Group Consulting (a consulting practice specializing in change management and systems improvement for funeral homes), and co-founder of Allen Family Funeral Options in Plano, TX, where he and his wife Melanie own and operate that business today.
Rick is a two-term member of the Legislative Committee and former Chair of the Media Relations Committee for the Texas Funeral Directors Association. He is active in youth baseball having served on the Baseball Board for Plano Sports Authority, acted as league director for youth t-ball and 7th and 8th grade boys baseball, and coached and managed a number of youth baseball teams. He is also a past member of the Monsignor Henry V. Petter Endowment Advisory Board.
Melanie Allen is a graduate of the Dallas Institute of Funeral Service and a licensed funeral director and embalmer. She began her career as an apprentice at Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home in the Highland Park/Park Cities area of Dallas. She was selected to serve as a primary arranging director, resulting from her exceptional skills and ability to genuinely relate to people and provide trusted guidance at a time when it is needed the most. She also held the position of Family Service Counselor while at Sparkman/Hillcrest, assisting families with the selection of cemetery property, memorials, and advance planning needs.
Melanie left the industry for a period of time and was employed by Dr. Pepper/7Up, Inc. and the Plano Independent School District prior to becoming co-founder of Allen Family Funeral Options. It is in this business where Melanie has fully realized her dream of helping families in her community who have lost a loved one.
