Our Team

Mary Lyons*

The Wealth Woman

Mary began her financial career as a young girl. A second-generation financial advisor, Mary’s fascination with investment planning started at dinner conversations with her parents, understanding wealth as a tool rather than an end goal. As Mary grew up, so did her interest and expertise. Today, Mary is recognized as part of the nation’s top 1% in the industry and has been a recipient of the Chairman’s Council Award (top 10 producers with American United Life Insurance Company®) for the past ten years.

With the recognition Mary has earned, she teaches her ideas and methods at national conferences, consults with the industry’s best, and trains advisors in top firms across the United States.

The world and the financial situation shifts and changes every day. The financial strategies that worked for your grandparents and parents no longer work today. The financial plans you made last year, even last month, may need updating. What drives Mary is creating a strong financial portfolio that’s right for you and your family, working with you to meet financial goals while adapting to whatever the world throws your way.

State Licensure

Insurance: FL, IN, LA, MI, NC, NM, NV, OK, SC, TX

Securities (FINRA Series 7 & 66): TX

Eric Alexander*

Financial Advisor

Before becoming a financial advisor, Eric had a career as an industrial engineer focusing on improving supply chain efficiencies. He enjoyed the people and the challenge of making systems faster, more efficient. However, he felt something was missing. Eric didn’t feel he was making a significant impact on individual lives, just making numbers better than before.

Eric took the opportunity to leave behind work as an industrial engineer and use the skills and mindset he had developed to make real, impactful change for those around him. Change that would leave a person and family’s life enriched for decades. Eric never foresaw himself doing that in (what he thought at the time) was the outmoded financial planning industry. But, an early mentor helped him see creative people were trying new and better strategies to improve lives.

For the past decade, Eric has put his tenacity, intelligence, and creativity to work creating financial plans for clients to grow their wealth, achieve financial goals, and provide a better life for themselves, their children, and their grandchildren. That means creating financial plans creative and flexible enough to weather an economy that is always moving, changing, and growing more complex. This is the change he hopes to be a part of for the next 30 years.

Meghan Cutsumbis

Financial Professional

Meghan is passionate in teaching young people how they can do life better and with much more efficiency. "Be the person you needed when you were younger" is the quote that real guides Meghan and how she moves through the world. She is most energized by working with creative types, change-makers, and ambitious young professionals. Her goal is to disrupt their way of thinking about money and educate them on a 21st century way of approaching personal finances! But she also enjoys working with anyone who is eager to learn!

Meghan joined Benchmark Income Group™ from the retail industry, where she led several teams as a Buyer and held positions in both planning and allocation at a Fortune 500 retailer. Here, she won 21 different awards and honors for financial and personal performance, including being identified as an “out of the box” thinker. She also spent time as a buyer at a retail tech startup and many years as a professional makeup artist. Most recently, Meghan’s innovative way of thinking and problem solving led to her being sought out by the wholesale vendor community to work as a consultant.

Studying abroad in Hong Kong and China, while attending Indiana University, ignited Meghan’s passion for international travel. She appreciates adventure vacations, and has gone from scaling a volcano in Bali to snorkeling in underground caves in Tulum! Last summer, she spent just over a month in Greece to explore her heritage and see first hand the village where her family grew up. Meghan is living her dream life and you can too!

Cheryl Stagner

Director of Insurance Management

Cheryl brings over 25 years of Administrative experience within the Life/Disability/Health Insurance Industry. She has filled various roles to include New Business Case Management/Field Underwriting, Implementation of Product Management, and oversees the administration of Policy Service and Licensing/Contracting.

Before joining Benchmark Income Group™, Cheryl’s tenure was with Personal Economics Group. A few years prior to that, she acted in most of the same roles with Guardian Life Insurance Company, and all led under the same General Agent. She goes back as far as 1994, where she started as an Administrative Assistant for Life & Health Insurance with Met Life & Mutual of Omaha.

She uses her organizational skills to ensure smooth underwriting processes and also provides excellent attention to detail in many areas. At the same time, she effectively represents herself in the Life & Financial Planning world. She’s been known to be recognized as the “Underwriting Guru.”

She works very closely with her General Agent. She prioritizes a vision to create collaborative relationships with agents while demonstrating her ability to work without close supervision and to exercise individual judgment and problem-solving in a professional area.

Cheryl says that Benchmark Income Group™ is different because the team has worked together for a long time, shares a common vision for excellence, and has never grown too big not to know each client personally.

Since her move from Austin, Cheryl has been a resident of Frisco, Texas since early 2020. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her daughter, exploring the outdoors, and crafting. She hopes to open her own Etsy shop one day!

Nathan Grant

Financial Professional and Executive Assistant

Nathan's number one goal is to impact others through creative solutions to planning for the ups and downs of life. He loves connecting with people who value faith, fun, fitness, finance, and friends!

Nate's goal is to help as many households and individuals as possible—working primarily with young professionals, young couples, medical professionals, small- to mid-size business owners, and overall nice people.

As a student athlete, Nate learned the importance of a solid game plan and how proper preparation can prevent poor performance. He's here to help you plan properly so that you can spend more time living and less time worrying!

Missy Rench*

Financial Advisor

Missy Rench is a Native Texan and moved to Plano when Parker Road was just two lanes and made of dirt. While she remains a proud Plano Wildcat alumnus, she currently lives in North Dallas with her husband and three young daughters. Missy takes active roles in her daughters’ schools, various organizations, and the community, as she strives to teach her children the importance of hard work and giving back. Being a positive role model for her girls pushes her toward success and has always been a determining factor in her career decisions.

Missy graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Communications and later received a Masters in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University. Concurrent to the MBA program, she accepted a full-time position to initiate and lead operations for a cutting-edge diagnostic imaging facility in the Dallas metroplex. From inception to sale, the company grew in market share and profitability, providing investors a successful exit. After nearly 20 years in healthcare finance and strategy, coupled with the opportunity to start and sell the business, Missy made the conscious decision to merge her passion for helping others with her analytical background and step into a financial advisor role with Benchmark Income Group™.

Benchmark Income Group™ is collaborative and deeply knowledgeable, with integrity at its core. Working with this group has allowed Missy the opportunity to help others while focusing on and utilizing her financial, strategic, and interpersonal skill sets. “We offer a unique approach for each client based on individual goals, needs, and timelines. Being a part of this team has been exceptionally rewarding! Every day I get to connect, guide and inspire my clients, and by day’s end, I am fulfilled knowing that I have truly made a difference.”

Kimberly “KJ” Martin

Financial Professional

We are all very busy with life, the last thing that we need is something else to complicate it and KJ knows this firsthand as she is a busy mother, wife, and businesswoman.

A successful 25+ year business acumen has helped her build her practice, educate, and be your advocate for health, life, Medicare, dental or vision insurance.

Kelly Lookadoo

Financial Professional

Kelly Lookadoo is a dedicated professional with a passion for financial strategy and social impact. A graduate of Samford University, she started her career in the music business in Nashville, which led her to working for one of the leading speakers bureaus in the nation.

She made the move to Dallas in 2008, managing online communities before transitioning to Director of Community Impact for Treasured Vessels Foundation, where she helped grow fundraising over 200% in three years and developed some of the largest partnerships that aided the advancement of the Foundation.  

Kelly is an accomplished business development professional with an ability to build and maintain relationships, a strategic mindset for making long-term organizational impact, and an unparalleled talent for communicating complex ideas in simple terms.

Kelly is a devoted wife and mother of two children, and three bonus children.

Ana Hernandez

Financial Professional

Ana’s passion for helping others led her to the financial industry, where she has become a trusted advisor known for her boundless energy and commitment to making a meaningful difference. Growing up in a large family, Ana quickly understood how financial obstacles can limit dreams. Ana's background sparked her mission to educate and empower others, showing them that money is simply a tool to achieve what they love most—and that by truly understanding how money works, anyone can turn seemingly impossible dreams into reality. 

Throughout her career, Ana has refined her expertise in offering personalized financial guidance, ensuring that each client receives the exceptional care and support they deserve. She is deeply dedicated to advocating for her clients and building authentic, long-lasting relationships rooted in trust and respect. Ana treats every client like family, providing a level of personal attention that sets her apart. By working closely with clients, she crafts customized strategies to help them achieve their unique financial goals. 

Outside of her professional life, Ana is a devoted wife and mother of two. She cherishes time spent with her family and has a passion for discovering new experiences. Whether it’s traveling, sampling new cuisines, meeting people from diverse backgrounds, or immersing herself in different cultures, Ana finds joy in exploration and continues to grow both personally and professionally. 

Nate Chesley

Financial Professional

Nate believes it’s important to bring clarity and creativity to an industry not typically known for these qualities.

For over 20 years, he's built his career by focusing on key fundamentals, making what can be an overly complex undertaking into something understandable and approachable for clients. As the founder of Propel Financial Strategies, Nate's expertise covers retirement planning, federal benefits, insurance, taxes, guaranteed income, and estate planning. It’s Nate's goal to help people navigate their future in the most efficient way possible.

With a strategic mindset, Nate's unique approach to financial planning offers new ways for people to think about making, growing, and protecting their money through methods that make sense.

Nate has been happily married for 27 years and has two young daughters (and a whole hobby farm of animals, including horses, dogs, and cats). With his family, Nate loves to ride horses, camp, spend time at the lakes, and enjoy the beauty of Minnesota. Nate is a Midwest native who spent time in North Dakota and Colorado, before returning to Minnesota in 2016 to expand his business and enjoy small town living.