Benefit Express Named One of the Top 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies in North America

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., May 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Benefit Express, a full-service employee benefits administration outsourcing firm, has been named one of the 50 fastest growing women-led companies in North America by American Express OPEN, the small business division of American Express, and Women Presidents' Organization (WPO).

The majority of new businesses are started by women, and one in five firms with revenue of $1 million or more is woman-owned.

"There's a real misconception about women-owned firms," says Maria Bradley, founder and president of Arlington Heights-based Benefits Express. "The fact is, women are growing their businesses at a faster rate than men. We're really driving job creation in this country."

The Women Presidents' Organization, a trade group for multimillion-dollar businesses, and American Express OPEN created the "50 Fastest" list to bring attention to that fact. "The Top 50 list exemplifies the vital role women business owners have on boosting the economy and enhancing job growth overall," says Marsha Firestone, Ph.D., president and founder of the WPO.

"There are 10 million women-owned businesses in the US that employee over 13 million people and generate nearly $2 trillion in annual sales," says Nancy Hood, Vice President at American Express OPEN. "We at OPEN are honored to support this group of women business leaders that thrived in a challenging economic climate."

Benefit Express is certainly one of those success stories. Bradley, who was previously a Senior Vice President for Aon Consulting, founded Benefit Express in 2001 with three employees. The company has grown 20% yearly, and today has over 100 employees, more than 300 clients and over $5 million in annual sales.

"Companies need to be as lean as possible, so they're outsourcing more and more non-core functions. We partner with our clients by taking on as much—or as little—of the HR and benefits administration function as the client needs us to," Bradley says. "We're well positioned for future growth, and we're pleased to be on the Top 50 list."

About Benefit Express

At Benefit Express, our focus is on flexible administration solutions. Our self-service platform - My Benefit Express ™ - delivers tools which help you efficiently manage HR & Benefits Administration. With My Benefit Express ™ clients have direct access to: customized content delivery, enrollment assistance, employee benefit education tools, transactional administrative processing/tracking, carrier billing reconciliation, vendor data-links and detailed HR reporting. Our solutions provide the flexibility for you to choose how, where and by whom work gets done. For more, visit www.benefitExpress.info. 

SOURCE Benefit Express