GP Strategies Corporation

GP Strategies Corporation

Traded as	NYSE: GPX
Industry	Professional services Technology services
Founded	1959
Headquarters	Corporate headquarters in Columbia, Maryland.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Scott N. Greenberg(CEO)[1] Douglas E. Sharp (President)[2]
Services	Training, Management Consulting, Technology Services, Outsourcing[3]
Revenue	US$ 501.9 million (2014) [4]
Number of employees	3,300 (July 2015)[5]
Website	www.gpstrategies.com

GP Strategies Corp. (NYSE: GPX;^[6] formerly General Physics Corporation) is a global performance improvement provider of sales and technical training, E-learning solutions, management consulting and engineering services headquartered in Columbia, Maryland.^[7][8] The firm has been ranked #58 on Forbes magazine's list of "America's 100 Best Small Companies" for the year 2012^[9] and #91 on Fortune magazine's list of 100 fastest growing companies for the year 2013 in a list that includes Apple Inc., Caterpillar and Baidu among other notable companies.^[10] GP Strategies offers services to improve the effectiveness of organizations by providing training, consulting and business improvement services. Clients include Fortune 500 companies, manufacturing, process and energy industries, and other commercial and government customers.

History

GP Strategies Corporation was founded in 1959 under the name National Patent Development Corporation (NPDC) as a venture capital firm focusing on technology companies. In 1960 it went public.

In 1986, NPDC purchased majority ownership of General Physics Corporation (“GP” or “General Physics”), which was established in 1966. Originally, GP provided technical services to the Navy Submarine Nuclear Power Program in the areas of operations, safety, and training. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, GP expanded its service offering and industry focus through internal investment and acquisitions that expanded its reach into environmental, energy, IT, and other government markets.

In 1998, NPDC changed its name to GP Strategies Corporation. In 2003, GP Strategies decided to focus on its training, engineering, and consulting business operated by GP and embarked on a plan to spin-off certain non-core assets to stockholders. In November 2004, GP Strategies spun off its non-core assets into a separate corporation which was named National Patent Development Corporation. In September 2005, GP Strategies completed the spin-off of all of its non-core assets with the spin-off of its ownership in GSE Systems.

From 2005 to 2011, GP Strategies was a holding company, consisting solely of its wholly owned operating subsidiary, General Physics. Effective January 1, 2012, GP Strategies merged with and into General Physics, eliminating the holding company structure. General Physics was the surviving legal corporation and was renamed GP Strategies Corporation effective with the merger. Following the merger, there were no material changes to the company’s financial position, business operations, state of incorporation, directors, executive officers, or management.

Today, GP Strategies serves a variety of industries, including aerospace, automotive, pharmaceutical, financial, healthcare, electronics, food & beverage, energy, metals, process industries, petrochemical, and telecommunications, as well as state, local, and federal governments. Its service offerings have also grown to meet the needs of its customers. GP Strategies delivers training, performance improvement services, training business process outsourcing, lean consulting and operational excellence consulting, engineering, construction management, homeland security services, and many other services that improve an organization’s operating performance and competitiveness. ^[11]

Company Structure

GP Strategies currently operates with four operating segments: Learning Solutions, Professional and Technical Solutions, GP Sandy and Performance Readiness Solutions.

Learning Solutions

The Learning Solutions segment delivers training, curriculum design and development, e-Learning services, system hosting, training business process outsourcing and consulting services globally. This segment also offers organizational performance solutions including leadership training and employee engagement tools and services. This segment serves large companies in the electronics and semiconductors, healthcare, software, financial services and other industries as well as government agencies.^[12]

Professional and Technical Solutions

This segment provides training, consulting, engineering and technical services, including lean consulting, emergency preparedness, safety and regulatory compliance, chemical demilitarization and environmental services primarily to large companies in the manufacturing, steel, pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries, federal and state government agencies, and large government contractors.^[13]

GP Sandy

The GP Sandy segment provides custom product sales training and serves manufacturing customers in the US automotive industry for over 30 years. GP Sandy provides custom product sales training designed to better educate customer sales forces with respect to new vehicle features and designs. This segment also provides technical training services to automotive manufacturers as well as customers in other industries.^[14]

Performance Readiness Solutions

This segment provides performance consulting and technology consulting services, including platform adoption, end-user training, change management, knowledge management, customer product training outsourcing and sales enablement solutions in industries such as manufacturing, aerospace, healthcare, life sciences, consumer products, financial, telecommunications, services and higher education as well as the public sector.^[15]

Awards and Honors

• In 2016, GP Strategies was named a "Top 20 Learning Portal Company" by Training Industry, Inc. for the 7th consecutive year. ^[16]
• In 2016, GP Strategies was named a "Top 20 Content Development Company" by Training Industry, Inc. for the 5th consecutive year. ^[17]
• In 2016, GP Strategies was named a "Top 20 Workforce Development Provider" by Training Industry, Inc. for the 5th consecutive year.^[18]
• In 2016, GP Strategies was named a "Top 20 Leadership Training Company" by Training Industry, Inc. for the 4th consecutive year.^[19]
• In 2016, GP Strategies was named a "Top 20 Leadership Training Company" by Training Industry, Inc. for the 4th consecutive year.^[20]
• In 2016, GP Strategies was named a "Top 20 Sales Training Company" by Training Industry, Inc. for the 8th consecutive year.^[21]
• In 2015, GP Strategies was awarded nine Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Awards.^[22]
• In 2015, GP Strategies was named a “Top Gamification Company” by Training Industry, Inc.^[23]
• In 2015, GP Strategies was named a "Top 20 Content Development Company" by Training Industry, Inc.^[24]
• In 2015, GP Strategies was named a "Top 20 Workforce Development Company" by Training Industry, Inc.^[25]
• In 2015, GP Strategies was named a “Top 20 Outsourcing Company” by Training Industry, Inc., for the 12th consecutive year.^[26]
• In 2015, GP Strategies was named a “Top 20 Sales Training Company” by Training Industry, Inc., for the 8th consecutive year.^[27]
• In 2015, GP Strategies was named a “Top 20 Leadership Training Company” by Training Industry, Inc., for the 3rd consecutive year.^[28]
• In 2015, GP Strategies’ BlessingWhite Division received the “Leadership 500 Excellence Award” for the 8th consecutive year.^[29]
• In 2014, Deere & Company recognized GP Strategies as a “Partner-Level Supplier” and “Hall of Fame Supplier” for the 5th consecutive year.^[30]
• In 2014, GP Strategies received an “Award of Excellence” for the Best Managed Learning Services Provider Category by Elearning!^[31]
• In 2014, GP Strategies was named a “Top 20 Learning Portal Company” by Training Industry, Inc., for the 5th consecutive year.^[32]
• In 2014, GP Strategies was named a “Top 20 Workforce Development Company” by Training Industry, Inc., for the 3rd consecutive year.^[33]
• In 2014, GP Strategies earned five Brandon Hall “Excellence in Learning” awards.^[34]
• In 2014, GP Strategies was named a “Top 20 Content Development Company” by Training Industry, Inc. for the 4th consecutive year.^[35]

References