Why We Do What We Do

Our Team

Brenda Bryant

Operations Manager

Brenda was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas. After a short few years in Dallas to attend Dallas Baptist University, where she earned a BA/BS in Education with minors in Spanish and Biblical Studies, she went right back to the great city of Fort Worth.

She spent a few years teaching 2nd grade then went on to work at her church in the Pastoral Care office. Each of these opportunities is where she found her love of serving and caring for people in many capacities throughout all stages of life. This suits her perfectly for the role of Operations Manager helping people directly get things done related to their money. She claims that “Coordinator” is her middle name.

Brenda is very involved in her local church and in her spare time you can always catch her at a local coffee shop, playing with her favorite puppies (especially her own, Bliss), watching football, gardening, or working on her next DIY project!

Teresa McCandless

Director of Relationship Management

Teresa was born in Irving, TX and currently resides in nearby Mansfield with her husband, John, who is also a native of Irving. Teresa has one adult stepdaughter. John and Teresa enjoy their 4-legged family and riding the Harley-Davidson on weekends.

Teresa began her career with LPL Financial in January of 2005 as an administrative assistant. She helped Sean Kernan move his practice to LPL in 2009 was instrumental in the establishment of 360 Wealth Management. She continues to support several 360WM-affiliated advisors and has developed long-term relationships with advisors and clients alike. Teresa enjoys her role as Director of Relationship Management because of the interaction with clients on a daily basis in helping them pursue their retirement goals is very fulfilling.

Teresa has a Bachelor’s degree in Finance through Southern New Hampshire University’s online program and has Texas Life/Health and Disability insurance licenses.

Ben Earls, CFP®

Financial Advisor

Ben is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and has been affiliated with 360WM since 2018.

Ben found the CFP Board in 2017 while helping patients navigate insurance issues in the medical sales field and never looked back. He previously worked in the Emergency Room and even had several single-song publishing deals in Nashville for mediocre songs you’ve never heard of ( click here if you want to listen to an example of one that ended up making him zero money).

Ben lives in Frisco, TX and loves listening to good country music (e.g. not his) and playing golf, mostly at Tanglewood Resort near Lake Texoma. He also enjoys weekend trips to East Texas to see family in Lindale/Tyler.

He uses plain English — aka an East Texas dialect with no nonsense — to explain financial concepts and likes a less formal/less stuffy style than the average financial professional.

Sean Kernan, CFP®

Financial Advisor

Sean Kernan is a native of Coppell, TX and lives in nearby Southlake. He and his wife Erica have been married since 2000 and have two young children (Clare, born in 2007 and Simon, born in 2011). His family is active in their faith at home and at Good Shepherd Catholic Community in Colleyville. Sean graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1997 with a degree in Economics and served as an Army officer for five years after graduation. He was stationed mostly at Fort Hood, TX and Buckley Air Force Base, CO (near Denver), but luckily also briefly at Fort Jackson, SC – just long enough to meet Erica, who is a native of Greenville, SC.

Sean has always had a passion for personal finance and investing. Upon leaving the Army as a captain in 2002, he started his financial planning career at Edward Jones Investments in his hometown. After building the foundation of his business, he moved to Morgan Stanley in 2005 to give his clients access to a much wider array of services and strategies. After a year at the firm, he was asked to serve as the Financial Advisor-in-Charge of a new office in Southlake. He also earned the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification in 2006 – further evidence of his commitment to the financial planning profession. As he continued to grow the business, Sean became aware of and drawn to the independent practice model.

After careful consideration and planning, Sean established his own practice on September 3, 2009. He has been grateful to continue many of the relationships from those first seven years in business to this day. He relishes the opportunity to help families focus on what matters most to them – without the complications that can arise when a large financial services firm is a third party to the client/advisor relationship. He has invested time to build a team that complements his education and skills but share the same approach to helping people.

Sean is also a part owner in Advisor Resource Council (ARC). ARC is an advisor support firm that helps approximately 80 independent financial advisors with compliance and other support systems so they can focus on their clients instead of administrative functions. ARC grew out of Sean and his business partners’ needs for their own practices and quickly expanded to serve other advisors.

Among his not that interesting and far less important skills and accomplishment are: 1) the ability to find “patterns” in vehicle license plates noticed while in daily traffic 2) the ability to relate most life situations to the appropriate episode of Seinfeld and 3) still holding his high school’s single baseball record for most innings pitched in a season.

John C. Peterson, CFP®

Financial Advisor

John Peterson has a wealth of experience in the financial services and telecommunications industries spanning 4 decades. After his retirement from Verizon in 2005, John has built a successful financial planning practice in his second career. He brings his life’s experiences to the table in helping others chart a course for their financial future based on the unique goals and resources of each individual. John provides fee based financial planning and consulting services, retirement and income distribution planning, and investment advisory services.

John received his Undergraduate Degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Nebraska in 1976 and his MBA from Xavier University in 1984. John is a Certified Financial PlannerTM. John leads small group financial ministries at St. Ann Catholic Church on “Faith and Money Matters” and “Set Your House In Order” for both the English and Spanish speaking communities. He also heads a budget coaching program to offer church members one-on-one assistance on a variety of financial topics.

John and his wife Julie live in Coppell, Texas, and have 2 grown daughters and are blessed with 6 grandchildren.