Tyra Butler has over twenty-eight years of experience in the Marketing, Merchandising and brand strategy profession. Her expertise was developed during many years in the Apparel Division with the Sara Lee Corporation where she served on a variety of national marketing programs. Ms. Butler joined a Matthews Company, as a Merchandising Consultant in the death care industry, primarily with the company’s largest client in Paris, France.

She is currently the National Senior Director, Market Development in the Memorialization division. Her passion is around the nuances and changing deathcare market. Tyra has had the honor to work closely with some of the largest Black firms in the nation. Many of those firms have served to inspire, educate and provide an avenue to explore industry best practices. She is one of the founding four members of LOTUS -a black organization for deathcare professionals. Tyra is a Louisiana native currently residing in Houston, Texas. She spent 6 years in the Matthews Corporate office in Pittsburgh, PA.

As a part of her consistent commitment to leadership and her community, Ms. Butler served as an executive board member as secretary and as Chair of the Marketing and Development Committee of the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh and she also explored her passion for the Arts as a board member and Marketing Chairperson of the August Wilson Center for African American Culture. She has served on several boards and chaired numerous philanthropic events, and served on several non-profit development committees including, Chairperson of an Exhibition of Fine Art Pittsburgh and Bringing Catlett to Carnegie Mellon University in 2005. Her New Orleans roots are a huge part of her life as a member of two krewes – Mystic Krewe of Phoenix and Krewe of Harmonia. She is a member of the historic national African American women’s philanthropic organization The Links Incorporated.