New chairman for Benefex

Benefex, a leading provider of online employee reward and benefit schemes, has announced the appointment of Steve Bellamy as its Chairman. Steve will replace the current Chairman Peter Waller who in turn will become Executive Director in order to continue assisting with the growth of the business and managing on-going client relationships.

Steve’s extensive experience in assisting high growth companies, predominantly in the IT sector, will help Benefex to deliver its strategic objectives as it moves to develop its service offering, build upon its impressive client base and extend its international presence.

Benefex operates in a high growth sector, enabling large organisations to tailor their rewards and benefit packages to individual employees, communicate effectively online with staff, and outsource administration and support of their schemes. As one of the largest online employee reward and benefits providers in the UK, Benefex currently provides services to over 500 clients, managing online benefits schemes for over 1 million employees in more than 40 countries. Its clients include the AA, Coca Cola, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, De Beers, E.ON, Philips, MTV and Centrica. It operates from its head office in Southampton, with a further presence in Marlow and London.

Steve has over 25 years’ experience in both managing and investing in high growth businesses. He has held a number of other Chairman, Non-executive and advisory roles, mostly in the technology industry. He is currently Chairman of Becrypt Limited, a cyber-security technology specialist, a Non-executive Director of Advanced Medical Solutions Group plc, a UK quoted global medical technology company and CEO of Accretion Capital LLP, a specialist European technology fund management business launched to capitalise on emerging technology opportunities in Europe.

Steve has also held a number of executive roles in his career, including Chief Operating Officer and Finance Director for Sherwood International plc, a UK listed global technology business focused on the Insurance industry and UK Central Government. Prior to joining Sherwood, Steve was a UK Investment Director of Brierley Investments, a global investor in undervalued quoted companies and before that worked at Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in New Zealand and New York. He trained as a Chartered Accountant in New Zealand.

Steve was introduced to Benefex by Business Growth Fund (BGF), a company established to help Britain’s fast growing smaller and medium sized businesses by providing long-term equity investment. In October 2011, BGF marked its first deal when it invested £4.2m of growth capital in Benefex. As part of its investment offering, BGF seeks to contribute guidance and operational support to its investee companies and identified Steve as a highly regarded individual who would be a significant addition to Benefex’s Board.

Matt Waller, the CEO of Benefex, commented:

“I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Steve as our new Chairman. As a result of BGF’s investment and our own excellent reputation within our industry, we have secured a first rate Chairman and we look forward to making the most of Steve’s extensive experience of high growth, exciting and entrepreneurial IT companies going forward. It is exciting to have Steve on board whilst retaining Peter, who will remain actively involved in the business in sales and client management. It’s the best of both worlds!”

Steve Bellamy also added:

“Benefex is exactly the type of business that I enjoy working with and also the sort of company that will help drive the UK economy forward. It was a start-up just eight years ago and is now one of the UK’s largest online employee reward and benefits providers with an exemplary client list and range of products and services. I look forward to working with Matt Waller and the rest of the management team to maintain Benefex’s impressive growth path.”