LLR invests in Benefitexpress, new CEO tapped

Schaumburg-based Benefitexpress, which provides cloud-based software for employee benefits and health exchanges, is expected to announce today that it will get a "sizable" equity boost and will replace its president with a new CEO.

LLR Partners, an investment firm with offices in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., will invest an unspecified amount into Benefitexpress and its founder and President Maria Bradley will step aside and become an adviser and board member.

Michael Sternklar, a former executive with Mercer's North American benefits outsourcing business, will become the CEO of Benefitexpress.

An LLR spokeswoman declined to say how much LLR is investing or what percentage it will own of Benefitexpress.

Benefitexpress, which incorporated as a business called Benefit Express Services LLC in 2001, started in Oak Brook. It expanded and moved to Arlington Heights in 2007, and then moved to Schaumburg in 2012. Benefitexpress provides software and services including benefit enrollment, management and administration as well as billing services, and a service call center.

"Now with the capital and strategic support of LLR Partners, I am confident that Benefitexpress can accelerate new opportunities in this emerging space. I look forward to steering that growth," Sternklar said in a statement.