PORTSMOUTH — YEI Corporation, founded in 1999, has announced its new company name, Gracie Plum Investments (GPI).
GPI is a management organization and the parent company for two wholly owned subsidiaries, Zebu Compliance Solutions (formerly YEI Healthcare) and Omnia Network Services (formerly YEI Network Services).
Francesca Hartop, CEO of GPI, said as YEI Corporation continued to experience change, growth and diversification, Hartop said the need for legal separation became apparent.
“It just became clear with all of these kinds of things, different activities going on, we want to make sure that we legally separated them, and of course in legally separating them into their different operating units lets have the people that work in that talk about what they want it to be called, since we didn’t use them all to be the same name, that could be a bit confusing,” she said. “So, I sat down with all of the employees, and kind of did a brainstorming for about eight weeks and gave some serious considerations about what we wanted to convey, branding and the whole bit, and that is what we came up with.”
GPI is a for-profit corporation chartered in the State of Ohio. The corporate philosophy is making a difference, large or small, every day, according to Hartop.
“We started the company back in 1999, and it has certainly changed over time,” Hartop said. “The company has diversified and we broke off into several operating units. We have our health care compliance division. We have our network services, and then we have the part that handles community reinvestment, backing for the schools, things like that which are important for developing the area.”
Now GPI, the company is continuing the same work, just under a different name.
“We are still doing the same things that we have always done. This is just better as far as, this is the healthcare operating unit, they’re doing this, and it really helps our branding and presence on the national stage, having a very non-descriptive name didn’t help people understand what we did,” she said. “So when we are selling our services to providers and payers nationally, it helps to have some tip that indicates that we are in the healthcare industry. It is all one company which is Gracie Plum Investments, all under one ownership, I own all three. It is just a way of straightening up the books a little bit, and making sure that everything is clear on who they are talking to.”
GPI invests a portion of all pooled revenues into local community development and advancement missions, according to Hartop. Additionally, GPI supports projects as small as whimsical painting of the fire hydrants along Second Street and sponsorship of state science competition finalists.
The support also reaches large projects such as financial backing for Portsmouth STEM Academy, a non-profit pre-K to senior high school, providing world-class educational opportunities to an at-risk regional population.
“We believe that each of us, individually and as entities, should be the change we want to see in the world,” she said.
For more information regarding Gracie Plum Investments visit: GraciePlum99.com to learn more about the companies and ongoing projects supported by Gracie Plum Investments.
