Deep roots: Employee Benefits Cooperative
With its roots extending back more than 70 years, Employee Benefits Cooperative was formed in 1989 under the leadership of Bill Herriges. As a regional cooperative, it provided employee benefits programs to the clients of its long-established parent company, Insurance Cooperative Agency, where Herriges had previously risen to the role of president.
The Cooperative expanded and delivered valuable flexible spending accounts at their inception in the 1970s and COBRA administration during the 1990s, as the Federal government began to reevaluate the employee benefits market.
A new century and a new path
Aware of the ongoing, industry trend of cooperatives merging or simply disappearing from the benefits landscape, Herriges decided early in 21st century to forge a different path and led Employee Benefits Cooperative’s transition from a cooperative to a 100 percent employee-owned corporation. The member-owners shared Herriges vision, and voted unanimously on December 12, 2001, to turn the cooperative into the 100 percent employee-owned Employee Benefits Corporation of today.
Employee Benefits Corporation
The new company blossomed under employee ownership. A wave of increased business demanded growth in the company’s staff, the development of more efficient solutions-driven administration technology and highly-trained, dedicated customer service teams.
After Herriges retired on December 31, 2005, Shelly Alexander succeeded him in his position as President and CEO and, along with each employee-owner, broadened the company's original vision. As employers began to seek out affordable benefit solutions, the company created modern administration software, introduced new products and services increased emphasis on compliance services and operations to meet the growing demand. and to increase the company's competitive edge. Online and mobile technology solutions and broader acceptance of debit-card solutions increased participant convenience and satisfaction.
Today
Employee Benefits Corporation administers a full range of IRS-approved benefit plans and products. The company also provides acknowledged and proven expertise in compliance services for thousands of clients and non-clients nationwide. The company is an acknowledged leader in customer satisfaction and boasts one of the most sophisticated administration technologies in the business.
Today, while embracing its 100 percent employee ownership, Employee Benefits Corporation continues to offer a competitive difference to its clients, through innovative benefit solutions, modern online, mobile and administration technologies and by making important benefit information accessible to its thousands of brokers, employers and their participants.