Meet Our Team
Mike Noyes, CEBS, GBA, CMS
Managing Partner
Mike is the co-founder and the Managing Partner of Alera Group: Texas in Houston. For over 15 years he has focused on the consulting of corporate health and welfare programs. Mike has extensive managed care experience, expertise in ASO contracts, and alternately funded group insurance programs. He is involved in all aspects of negotiations, plan architecture, contribution strategy, carrier selection, employee communication plan, and ongoing support.
For his clients, Mike’s most significant contribution is his commitment to helping them get the attention, strategic analysis, and breadth of solutions generally reserved for larger corporations.
Before starting Alera Group: Texas, Mike was a Principal and Employee Benefits Division leader of one of the largest consulting firms in East Texas. He was also a Consultant with Great-West HealthCare (now a part of Cigna) and New England Financial. His job responsibilities were to assist the broker and consultant marketplace to produce self-funded sales in the mid-market employee segment.
Mike is a native Houstonian and a graduate of Texas State University with a degree in Finance. He is a frequent speaker and presenter for events throughout the region, an advisor for the National Employee Benefits Advisory Forum (NABF), and also volunteers with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Mike currently resides in Sugar Land, Texas with his wife and three kids.
John Wissman
Senior Partner
Partnering with a range of mid-market companies in the energy, real estate, and logistics, John Wissman helps companies make sense of their employee benefit plans. His goal is to help clients move beyond “good enough” and start thinking strategically about how benefits can serve both company and employees.
John operates from the belief that the well-being of employees should always be at the forefront of a benefits strategy. Using his entrepreneurial and high-level business acumen, he provides in-depth guidance on how to achieve cost containment, enhance the employee experience, and meet compliance goals with a customized long-term strategy.
John is invested in company outcomes and uses a hands-on approach to teach clients how to reach the results they’re seeking. His tailored benefits strategies bring clarity to the “why” behind a plan and how it can work for everyone involved.
John is a native Texan and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business, where he majored in Finance and Marketing. His professional experience as an Equity Trader, Advisor, Board Member, and Entrepreneur has given him a unique perspective on how to help businesses think strategically and scale successfully.
As a speaker, John has shared his advanced strategies in health and welfare topics across Texas, including the ASHHRA Symposium and multiple industry summits for financial institutions. An active member of his community, John has also served as a mentor for Minds Matter, helping underprivileged high school students gain college acceptance and attain scholarships.
A free spirit at heart, he has spent time traveling throughout Europe, Southeast Asia, South America, and Australia, which has helped broaden his perspective on both business and life. Aside from travel, John enjoys playing tennis, hiking, spending quality time with friends, and being a die-hard 49ers and Texas Longhorns fan.
Currently, John lives in Houston with his wife Brittany and two wildly smart and independent sons.
Ryan Johnson, CBC
Senior Partner
Ryan is a Senior Partner in our benefits consulting division and specializes in working with mid-market companies to improve and fine-tune their employee benefit offerings. He is involved in all aspects of negotiations, plan architecture, contribution strategy, carrier selection, employee communication, and ongoing support. Ryan enjoys collaborating with clients, problem-solving, and providing new strategies to companies that can improve their plan for the company and its employees. Ryan’s creative and progressive ideas have helped many companies save a significant amount of money while maintaining a rich benefit offering.
Before working with Alera Group: Texas, Ryan was a Top Producer for one of the top 10 largest national insurance brokers in the country, Brown & Brown, Inc. Previous to Brown & Brown, Inc., he worked for HIG Capital, a private equity firm, where he was responsible for sourcing and assessing new investment opportunities in growing companies.
Ryan is a native Houstonian and graduate of the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business. He enjoys volunteering with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, serves as a Board Member with the Texas Exes Houston Chapter, and is part of the Alera Benefit Advisory Board.
Brooke Dedmon
Human Capital Executive
Brooke is a Human Capital Executive with a focus on prevention, not cures, for mid-market employers that strategically evaluate ways to attract and retain top talent. Brooke prides herself on partnerships, trust, integrity, and aligning services specific to the needs of her clients as it relates to customized benefit plans, cost containment, employee engagement, and HR administration.
Brooke received her undergraduate degree from Texas State University (2002), studied overseas in Sweden (2002), and received her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Houston (2004). Prior to joining the Alera Group team, Brooke worked for Paycom Software, Inc. and State Farm Enterprise.
Brooke is a member of HR-Houston, SHRM, and involved with local Chambers and Rotary Clubs. She is very outgoing, collaborative, and describes herself as a life learner. Brooke lives in Missouri City, TX with her Husband, 2 daughters, and goldendoodle, Mercy. She loves reading and indoor cycling.
EXPERT EDUCATION
Events and Webinars
Employee Benefits
2025 Healthcare and Employee Benefits Benchmarking Report: How Does Your Benefits Program Stack Up?
In this session, our experts will dive into the results of our annual, market-leading benchmarking survey.
June 26, 2025 at 01:00 pm CT | Virtual
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Employee Benefits
Dynamic Data: Strategies for Success
Join us for this session, as our experts will share how to utilize your organization’s data to create advanced and innovative strategies for success.
July 17, 2025 at 01:00 pm CT | Virtual
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Wealth Services
State of the Markets
Join us as we unveil the factors that drive the nation's financial pulse and how they may impact your personal finances.
July 23, 2025 at 12:00 pm CT | Virtual
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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Insights
Employee Benefits
Benefits Captives: Your Business and What Your Competitors Are Doing
In one form or another, Captive Insurance has existed as a risk management solution for many decades — originally for property and casualty coverage and primarily for large employers. But its viability as a solution for employee benefits and for midsized businesses has increased dramatically in recent years, fueled by volatility in the insurance market in general and by the skyrocketing cost of health insurance in particular.
May 29, 2025
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Wealth Services
Protecting Your Business from the Loss of a Key Person
The unexpected loss of a key team member can disrupt operations and impact your bottom line. Explore how key person insurance can help your business stay resilient and maintain continuity during a critical transition.
May 20, 2025
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Wealth Services
Weekly Market Update
Stocks roared higher last week, powered by upbeat trade news and tame inflation reports.
May 19, 2025
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Agencies Push Pause Button on Enforcement of MHPAEA 2024 Final Rule
On May 15, 2025, the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Treasury Department (collectively, the “Agencies”) released a statement regarding the Agencies’ recent request for abeyance of a lawsuit filed by the ERISA Industry Committee (“ERIC”) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that challenged certain aspects of Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) Final Rule (“2024 Final Rule”) relating to nonquantitative treatment limitation comparative analyses (“NQTL analyses”).
May 16, 2025
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