American Express OPEN, and the Women Presidents' Organization(WPO) has named Benefit Express one of the 50fastest growing women-led companies in North America.

Benefit Express is a full-service employee benefitsadministration outsourcing firm that focuses on flexibleadministration solutions.

"There's a real misconception about women-owned firms," saidMaria Bradley, founder and president of Arlington Heights-basedBenefit Express, in a released statement.

The majority of new businesses are started by women, and one infive firms with revenue of $1 million or more is woman-owned,Bradley noted. "The fact is, women are growing their businesses ata faster rate than men. We're really driving job creation in thiscountry."

WPO, a trade group for multimillion-dollar businesses, andAmerican Express OPEN created the "50 Fastest" list to bringattention to that fact.

"The Top 50 list exemplifies the vital role women businessowners have on boosting the economy and job growth overall," saidMarsha Firestone, Ph.D., president and founder of WPO, in a pressrelease.

Nancy Hood, vice president at American Express OPEN added thiscomment: "We at OPEN are honored to support this group of womenbusiness leaders that thrived in a challenging economicclimate."

Benefit Express is an example of such a success story. MariaBradley founded Benefit Express in 2001 with only three employees.Today, the company reports 20 percent growth year over year, andproduces more than $5 million annually. The company has more than100 employees, serving more than 300 clients.

"Companies need to be as lean as possible, so they'reoutsourcing more and more non-core functions. We partner with ourclients by taking on as much-or as little-of the HR and benefitsadministration function as the client needs us to," Bradley said."We're well positioned for the future growth, and we're pleased tobe on the Top 50 list."