WHO IS LIONSMARK CAPITAL?
About Us
Darren Sugiyama
Founder
& CEO
Bio
Darren Sugiyama is the Founder & CEO of Lionsmark Capital.
Darren founded Lionsmark Capital (2016), and is now one of the most recognized firms in the premium financing space, offering multiple loan structures and partnerships with 19 banks and virtually ever A-rated life insurance carrier in the country.
Prior to Lionsmark, he was the Founder & CEO of Davinci Financial & Insurance Associates (2012), a life insurance agency headquartered in Irvine, California with 5 additional satellite offices nationwide, and 100+ agents. DaVinci's California operation produced 25% of policies sold in Orange County, CA for Pacific Life and 38% Penn Mutual.
Prior to Davinci, Darren was the Founder & CEO of Apex (2003), an employee benefits firm that grew to over $37 million in annual premium with its first seven years and became the #1 producer in the country for HealthNet, Kaiser Permanente, and Colonial Life.
He is also a 13-time published author with his books being distributed in 15 countries.
Darren lives with his wife in Orange County, California.
Emilia Sugiyama
Chief
Operations Officer
Bio
Emilia Sugiyama is our Director Of Operations at Lionsmark Capital.
Prior to Lionsmark, Emilia was the Chief Operations Officer for Apex Outsourcing, a large employee benefits consulting firm, specializing in creative group health insurance solutions for small to medium sized businesses in California.
Prior to Apex, Emilia was the Founder and President of Pacific Bay Insurance Group, a firm that specialized in voluntary employee benefits. During its first year in business, Pacific Bay won the Agency Of The Year Award with Colonial Life, and again in its second year. In 2012, Pacific Bay was responsible for 58% of the new clients acquired for Colonial Life in Orange County, CA and San Bernardino County, CA combined.
Prior to Pacific Bay, Emilia was a Broker Sales Manager for several General Agencies in the employee benefits industry, including BenefitMall, LISI, and Dickerson. Emilia started her 30+ year career in the insurance industry in 1994.
Emilia lives with her husband in Orange County, California.
Brian Johnson
Vice-President
of National Accounts
Bio
Brian Johnson is our VP of National Accounts at Lionsmark Capital.
Prior to Lionsmark, Brian consulted independent insurance agencies and national insurance companies develop their growth models and maximize the efficiency of their operational structures.
Prior to his consulting business, he was the VP of Product Marketing & Development for American National of Texas where he developed new products and rollout strategies for independent agents.
Prior to American National of Texas, Brian owned an insurance agency with his wife Heather which he built and sold.
Prior to building his insurance agency, he was a National Sales Director of the nation's largest IMO, increasing sales by over 2X.
Prior to his IMO work, Brian was a Vice-President at One Resource Group, training and assisting agents on sales concepts and advanced financial planning where his sales team generated over $500 million in sales.
Brian lives with his wife, splitting time between their homes in Indiana and Dallas, Texas.
Jeffrey Reid
Senior Business Development Consultant
Bio
Jeff Reid is a Senior Business Development Consultant at Lionsmark Capital, introducing financial advisors, life insurance brokers, and RIA firms to our proprietary methods of premium financing.
In addition, Jeff's valued relationships with family offices is a tremendous asset to our uber high net worth division, working with family estates of $500MM+.
Jeff has over 32 years of executive leadership experience in the life insurance industry, and over 20 years in premium financing.
Prior to Lionsmark, he was a Co-Founder & Managing Partner of The Producers Group, a San Digeo-based BGA. Jeff successfully contributed towards record annual sales, placing over $100B of life insurance death benefit, and over $600MM in total paid premiums.
Jeff lives with his wife in San Diego, California.
Lionel Adams
Senior
Sales Associate
Bio
Lionel Adams assists with point-of-sale services for Lionsmark Capital, specializing in both premium financed cases as well as non-financed life insurance policies.
Prior to Lionsmark, Lionel worked for DaVinci Financial & Insurance Associates (one of Darren Sugiyama’s previous companies) as a life insurance advisor. When Darren Sugiyama started Lionsmark Capital, Lionel was one of his most trusted advisors at DaVinci, so his transition to premium financing was a natural fit.
Prior to DaVinci, Lionel worked as a life insurance agent for Mass Mutual in Newport Beach, California.
Prior to Mass Mutual, Lionel served our country as a U.S. Marine.
Lionel lives with his girlfriend Teri in Nipomo, California.
Kelly Crigger
Director Of
Premium Financing Loans
Bio
Kelly Crigger is our Director Of Premium Financing Loans at Lionsmark Capital.
In this capacity, Kelly is the primary liaison between our lenders, our carriers, and our valued advisors & clients. She manages both our lender-underwriting and our carrier-underwriting, coordinating policy funding and policy delivery.
Prior to Lionsmark, Kelly was the New Business Coordinator for DaVinci Financial & Insurance Associates, acting as the primary liaison between DaVinci, the underwriting departments at the carriers, and DaVinci's clients.
Prior to DaVinci, Kelly worked as an sonographer / ultrasound technician in a medical services office.
Kelly lives with her husband Josh and her dog Mia in Nashville, Tennessee.
Abbey Strom
Director
of Loan Renewals
Bio
Abbey Strom is one of our premium financing Loan Renewal Specialists.
In this capacity, Abbey handles our clients’ loan renewals each year, working with our lenders, carrier partners, valued advisors & clients.
Prior to Lionsmark Capital, Abbey was an Account Executive with Gallagher Insurance, managing insurance policy renewals.
Prior to Gallagher, Abbey worked for Logix Federal Credit Union in two different rolls as both a Senior Loan Processor, and then as a Pre-Funding Auditor.
Prior to Logix, she worked for Bank Of America as a Loan Processor.
Abbey lives with her husband and two children in Orange County, California.
Joey Cusick
Director
of Accounting
Bio
Joey Cusick leads our accounting team at Lionsmark and oversees the financial aspects of our organization including the accounting needs, our billing department, our commission department, and payroll.
In addition, Joey works assists in orchestrating the accounting side of our banking relationships.
Joey lives with his wife and two children in Nashville, Tennessee.
Michael Pachuta
Director
of Marketing
Bio
Michael Pachuta is the head of our marketing department and manages our event sponsorship relationships with carriers, lenders, and our resource partners.
He and his team manage everything from producing our marketing material for our in-person events, boot camps, symposiums, and speaking events.Prior to Lionsmark, Michael ran a background check firm as well as a high-profile security team.
Michael lives with his wife in Detroit, Michigan.
Courtney Pachuta
Director
Of Events
Bio
Courtney Pachuta handles the event planning for our in-person events including our Premium Financing Symposiums, Boot Camp Seminars, and Darren Sugiyama's coaching events. Courtney oversees a variety of elements from registration, to marketing & promoting, to coordinating site management & set up, to making special arrangements for our guest speakers and event attendees.
With our national footprint and ever-expanding network of resource partners, event sponsors, and calendar of events, Courtney is the ultimate project manager and wears multiple hats in making sure our in-person events are first class.
Courtney lives with her husband in Detroit, Michigan.
Marlena Soave
Senior Event Manager
Bio
Marlena Soave is the Senior Event Manager overseeing all event operations for Lionsmark Capital, leading the execution of eight events from February through December 2025.
With over a decade of experience in the hospitality industry and six years specializing in event planning, Marlena brings a well-rounded, detail-driven approach to every event.
Her background spans event management, food & beverage operations, and sales; making her a dynamic force behind the scenes and a trusted partner in bringing the Lionsmark vision to life.
Ziz Abdur-Ra'oof
Senior Onsite Event Manager
Bio
Ziz Abdur-Ra'oof is our Senior Onsite Event Manager and is the main point person onsite at our in-person Boot Camp events. Ziz coordinates the venue and venue managers, the A/V team, welcome receptions, and offsite events sponsored by our resource partners.
Prior to working with Lionsmark Capital, Ziz was the Director of Student Welfare & Career Development at University of Maryland. Prior to this role, he was the Executive Director of the M Club, a non-profit organization dedicated to maintaining the relationship between the school and alumni athletes.
Prior to University of Maryland, Ziz was a wide receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL.
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To contact us, you may either call our office at (949) 398-0088, or click the button below to tell us a little about yourself and we will schedule a private Zoom call with one of our principals.
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