Everyone deserves access to better benefits. We remove the barriers that stand in the way.
Five Stones replaces complexity with clarity and restores access to affordable solutions. Our platform combines technology, thoughtfully designed benefit plans, and real human guidance to solve the practical challenges of choosing, affording, and administering benefits. Employees understand and value what they have. Participation rises. Employers see return on their investment, get back time, and reap benefits. Brokers increase their capabilities, impact people, and develop relationships based on value.
Where Five Stones came from.
We didn't start Five Stones because we saw a market opportunity. We started it because we couldn't keep doing things the old way and sleep at night.
Most of us spent years working inside the traditional benefits model — loyal to one carrier, selling one set of products, fitting every client into the same box whether it worked for them or not. We were good at it. We built relationships. We helped people. But we also watched the same thing happen over and over again.
A small business owner would come to us looking for real answers — a competitive benefits package, technology that actually worked, someone to help their employees understand what they were signing up for. And we'd do our best. But our best was limited by a system that wasn't designed to put the client first. Our loyalty was in the wrong place, and we knew it.
That frustration built over years. Not just for one of us — for all of us.
So we made a choice. We moved our loyalty from the carrier to the client. We stopped fitting people into one box and started building something that could flex around whatever a client actually needed. We brought together the right people at the right time — each of us with different strengths, different backgrounds, and the same conviction that this industry needed more.
Why "Five Stones."
The name comes from a story most people know — David and Goliath. A young shepherd, seemingly without a path to win, steps forward to face a giant everyone else was afraid of. No armor. No size advantage. Just five carefully chosen stones, a clear strategy, and the confidence that conviction, preparation, and precision can overcome giants.
That's what we're doing.
The benefits industry is full of giants. Structural barriers that keep small and mid-sized employers from accessing the protection their people need. Barriers that limit what producers can offer. Barriers that slow brokers down. For years, most have accepted these constraints as just the way things work.
We haven't.
Each of our five stones represents one of the core advantages we deliver — accessibility, affordability, clarity, leverage, and better outcomes. They're the tools we put in the hands of employers, producers, and brokers so they can compete on a level they were never supposed to reach.
Strategy beats size. Clarity beats confusion. And the right tools — used with precision — shift the outcome for everyone.
The team behind the stones.
We're not a startup full of people who read about insurance in a textbook. We're a team of people who've spent decades in the field — enrolling employees, sitting across from HR directors, building relationships with carriers, and learning what actually works when the pitch deck gets put away and the real work starts.
What connects us isn't a business plan. It's a shared belief that this industry can do more for the people it's supposed to serve.
We come from different backgrounds. Different ages, different upbringings, different skill sets. Some of us have worked together for nearly a decade. Some joined more recently. But there's a thread that runs through all of us — we got into this work to make an impact on people's lives, and we're not interested in doing it halfway.
That shows up in how we operate. We built our business model around levelized commissions and long-term service — not front-loaded payouts that incentivize selling and disappearing. We chose to be carrier agnostic so we could recommend what's actually best, not what pays us the most. We invested in technology so our clients don't have to. And we kept the human touch because benefits will never be something a software platform alone can explain to a person sitting at a kitchen table trying to make the right choice for their family.
Strategy beats size. Clarity beats confusion. And the right tools — used with precision — shift the outcome for everyone.
Every decision we've made as a company comes back to one question: does this serve the people we're working with?
If the answer is yes, we do it. If it's not, we don't. That's not complicated, but in this industry, it's uncommon.
The leaders of 5 Stones.
We built Five Stones to lead a platform built to elevate everyone connected to it. Combining experience in entrepreneurship, operations, distribution, and leadership development, the team works together to remove barriers, strengthen capabilities, and create an environment where brokers, advisors, and employers can grow and succeed.
Ethan Greer
Ethan Greer serves as Partner and Chief Executive Officer of 5 Stones Benefits Group, where he leads the firm’s strategic direction and long-term platform development.
Ethan has spent more than a decade building organizations, developing leaders, and driving high-performance sales teams within the voluntary benefits industry. In addition to launching 5 Stones, he serves as a Partner with Paideia, helping expand the firm’s national footprint with employers, brokers, and independent insurance producers while developing scalable systems that enable advisors to grow with clarity and integrity.
Known for developing leaders and building strong teams, Ethan’s leadership philosophy centers on discipline, long-term alignment, and a faith-centered perspective that emphasizes service, stewardship, and investing in people.
Outside of work, Ethan is a devoted husband to Kacy and father to Meyer and Max. When he’s not working, he enjoys time with family and the occasional round of golf.
Greg Fears
Greg Fears serves as Partner and Chief Operating Officer of 5 Stones Benefits Group, where he leads the firm’s operations, finance, systems, and infrastructure development.
Greg brings a diverse background spanning entrepreneurship, executive leadership, consulting, adult education, health and wellness, and business development. Over the course of his career, he has owned four companies and successfully exited three, while also holding leadership roles including Executive Director, Regional Operations Director, President, and Chief Operating Officer. He has helped scale organizations through significant organic growth while leading teams of up to 300 people.
Known as a strategic integrator, Greg focuses on building systems that remove barriers, strengthen execution, and elevate the capabilities of the people around him. He believes strong organizations combine innovative infrastructure with human connection so people do not simply gain access to benefits, but understand and use them in ways that truly matter.
Born in Okinawa, Greg raised his children in Florida before moving to the Chattanooga area in 2021 with his wife Donna. Outside of work, he enjoys ambitious home renovation projects and time with his children and grandchildren, Eli and Isaac.
Chan Pesnell
Chan Pesnell serves as Partner and President of Southern Distribution at 5 Stones Benefits Group, where he works with advisors, broker partners, and employers to expand voluntary benefit strategies and develop high-performing distribution teams.
Chan brings a unique background in logistics, sales leadership, and employee benefits strategy. Before entering the benefits industry, he spent a decade in the transportation sector, advancing from fleet management to becoming a top-performing freight broker. That experience sharpened his operational mindset and ability to build scalable systems.
Chan entered the voluntary benefits industry during the COVID pandemic with Aflac and quickly emerged as a high-performing producer. His success led to a leadership role as a District Sales Coordinator, where he developed and led one of the region’s top-performing teams in sales, new account growth, and agent development.
He and his partners later founded 5 Stones Benefits Group with the vision of building a platform that accelerates broker growth through enrollment infrastructure, technology, and multi-carrier solutions.
Outside of work, Chan enjoys time with his wife Shelby and their three children, Morgan, Nellie, and Walter.
Taylor Thigpen
Taylor Thigpen serves as Partner and President of Eastern Distribution at 5 Stones Benefits Group, where he works with advisors, broker partners, and employers to strengthen voluntary benefit strategies and develop high-performing advisory teams.
Taylor has spent the past decade building people, teams, and partnerships within the voluntary and worksite benefits industry. Since stepping into leadership in 2017 with the world’s largest voluntary benefits provider, he has focused on developing leaders and expanding market opportunities across Tennessee, including Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville.
A lifelong competitor, Taylor approaches business with the same mindset he brought to athletics growing up: preparation, discipline, and bringing out the best in the people around him. His leadership philosophy is rooted in investing in people, building strong partnerships, and a faith-driven perspective that guides how he leads and serves others.
A Murfreesboro native, Taylor graduated from Carson-Newman University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He and his wife Ashley are raising their three children, Sonny, Kit, and Lucy.
Tim Chappell
Tim Chappell serves as Partner and President of Central Distribution at 5 Stones Benefits Group, where he works with employers, advisors, and broker partners to design and implement voluntary benefit strategies that strengthen organizations and support their people.
Tim brings more than a decade of experience in the worksite benefits industry, where he has built a reputation for delivering innovative enrollment solutions and helping organizations implement benefits programs that create measurable value. Known for his strategic mindset and disciplined execution, he has consistently been recognized as a top performer in the field.
Before entering the benefits industry, Tim spent thirteen years as a school teacher and coach. That experience shaped a leadership style centered on mentorship, accountability, and developing people to perform at their highest level. His approach to leadership is grounded in integrity, service, stewardship, and faith.
A Middle Tennessee native, Tim is married to Jill and is the proud father of Brady and Lola.
Sharon Sessoms
Austin MacKay
Darren King
Staci Fisher
Kayla Talmage
Rebekah Broyles
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What we believe.
Loyalty belongs to the client
Not to a carrier, not to a commission structure, not to the way things have always been done. When we sit across from an employer, a producer, or a broker, our only agenda is solving their problem.
Education changes everything
Insurance is the one thing people pay for that they can't touch or feel. Without real education, employees don't participate. Without participation, benefits don't work. We lead with education because it's the lever that makes everything else possible.
Service isn't a phase — it's the model
Most benefits companies show up strong in year one and fade by year two. Our business is built on residual relationships, not transactional ones. We're just as invested in a claims call as a sales call, because that's how you keep clients — and how you earn the right to keep serving them.
Everyone deserves a seat at the table
Small companies shouldn't be locked out of competitive benefits. Independent producers shouldn't be stuck with limited tools. Brokers shouldn't have to choose between doing more and burning out. We remove those barriers so everyone can operate with the confidence and capability they deserve.
The right people make everything work
Great personnel make great teams. We've been intentional about who we partner with — from carriers to advisors to every person on our staff — because at the end of the day, this is a people business. Technology amplifies. Systems organize. But people are what make it all go.
Built for brokers, employers, and producers who deserve more.
Let's remove the barriers.
Whether you're an employer looking for a better benefits experience, a producer ready for a real platform, or a broker who wants to expand what you offer your clients — we'd love to hear what you're up against.