Meet Lea Weaver | President of BenAlliance LLC

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lea Weaver and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lea, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Sure. I love this question.

I’ve always had a servant’s heart. My top priority as an employee has always been to serve my clients and their employees in the best ways possible. As I worked corporately in the employee benefits arena, there were a few important issues that stood out for me and made me feel really uncomfortable. First, I had absolutely no job security due to constant mergers and acquisitions. Regardless of the months or years of acquisition planning that was probably happening behind the scenes with upper management, for employees like me, these acquisitions always seemed to come very quickly and without warning, and with new salary structures, goal and reporting expectations, titles and unrealistic client management strategies, undoing any and all trust employees had in their upper management teams.

Second, the organizations I worked for were always seemingly too large to communicate effectively from department to department. Each department head wanted to run things according to their own management ideals, and there was no top-down accountability, thus customer/client service suffered, sometimes radically, and as a result there was little to no problem-solving transparency for the client.

When I was laid off in 2020 (due to COVID) I reevaluated my priorities. I looked back at my work history and realized that I had worked for five different corporate entities in the span of less than 5 years, mostly due to mergers and acquisitions. I felt massively undervalued as an employee. I realized that my resolute sense of purpose in serving my clients and their employees with more transparency, quicker response times and with a more wholistic approach to sales, strategy, and administration was never going to be valued by the all too commonplace large corporate structure.

I decided then that I wanted to be a servant leader, creating a more reliable and welcoming space for my employees and for our clients. Since I couldn’t find a space for that in the employment arena, I decided to create one.

What should our readers know about your business?
BenAlliance is an employee health benefits agency specializing in strategy, service, compliance, and administration for small to mid-sized companies (typically from 10 – 500 employees). To cut down on the transient nature of employees, we create health benefit portfolios (including health, life, disability, accident and critical illness) specifically to attract and retain.

I think it’s important to note that my brand is a representation of my whole self. I am loyal, service and detail-oriented and interested in the wellbeing of others, my employees and clients alike. That’s the most important thing I’d like people to know about BenAlliance.

It’s also important to me for folks to know that my biggest challenge as a business owner is my communication style. I have high-functioning ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), and as a result, my communication style can be somewhat abrupt. I like to think of my communication style as direct, but others might think differently. This is one of the main reasons for my partnership with Kerney Laday the CEO of HRO Advisors. He is friendly, down to earth, well-liked, respected and incredibly knowledgeable. He understands my challenges and helps to direct me when he feels I need a push to communicate differently. The two of us are a perfect pair in business because he develops the initial client relationship, and then I come in and educate, strategize, implement, and serve. My ASD is mostly a benefit in my attention to detail and my ability to deeply focus on each task at hand without many of the distractions my neurotypical friends tell me they sometimes suffer.

In short, BenAlliance is an agency that focuses on an all-in-one solution, meaning we keep the employer compliance and administrative responsibility to a minimum, leaving the client free to focus on their own business and not on the intricacies of the legalities and administrative functions their benefit offerings require.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
This is a fun question!

I try and take into consideration who is visiting and what they want to do, so this may be a bit difficult to answer. Assuming that person liked everything I liked, and depending on the time of year, My husband and I might first take them to the Japanese Gardens in Fort Worth and also spend some time on the arboretum side. If they bring kids, we would take them to the Magic Time Machine for dinner in Dallas, and without kids, The Pocket Sandwich Theatre in Carrolton is always a fun show. We would probably take them to one of the Truck Yard locations for food truck selections, drinks and live music. Meow Wolf in Grapevine is great for everyone and is definitely on our “showing friends around town” list. Downtown Grapevine is awesome if you want to spend the day shopping and day drinking wine. You wouldn’t get out of there alive in a wine bar crawl there are so many to choose from, lol. For shopping and dining we would probably visit the Bishop Arts District and Deep Ellum in Dallas, Southside Fort Worth, and Downtown Denton. One of my favorite places to go in Denton is Yellow Dog Art Bar & Gallery. Also, a must-eat place for us is Spiral Diner & Bakery, a small vegan chain in Dallas, Fort Worth and Denton.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I think it’s so important for me to note that my husband, Greg, is my biggest supporter. When I told him I wanted to leave corporate to do for myself what I had been doing for someone else, he didn’t even flinch. He understands my work ethic and drive and saw how unhappy I was when I was not able to act in a way for my clients that I felt was in their best interests. I

t took a good bit of time to develop my processes and infrastructure and 3.5 years in, I’m still learning new things every day, not just about being a business owner, but about being a good employer, business partner, referral partner and employee advocate. As I’ve said, I have a passion for service, so my first consideration is what is best for my prospect or client.

Also, so many friends from my corporate days have become self-employed and we are all still great friends and support systems for one another.

James and Mallory Herrin left the corporate arena around the same time I did to branch out and start an ASO, Herrin HR. They are two of the most brilliant people I know, and they have supported me as I have tried to support them by offering help, guidance and friendship, and it’s been so appreciated.

Marisa Eckberg also left corporate to branch out and start Grey Owl HR. She has been a great friend and has always been there to answer HR questions and referrals.

Kerney Laday is the founder and CEO of HRO Advisors. He has been a wonderful friend and work partner for a long time. Today, we work in partnership with each other, and we just entered into an agreement giving him interim CEO status until our partnership agreement is finalized in or around 2025.

Website: https://benalliance.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/benalliance/?viewAsMember=true

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083644416550

Image Credits
Jack Kemp – Kemp Portraits