Brio Living Services logo
Steve Fetyko (left) and James Kelly

Exactly three years into their $150 million affiliation, nonprofit senior living organization United Methodist Retirement Communities and Porter Hills Presbyterian Village rebranded Tuesday under a single name: Brio Living Services. The Chelsea and Grand Rapids, MI-based company provides care and services for older adults across lower Michigan.

“After working together during the toughest possible circumstances during COVID-19, our organization is ready to begin looking forward again,” Brio President and CEO Steve Fetyko said Tuesday in a press release.

“This is exciting for us, because this is our corporate brand,” Fetyko told the McKnight’s Business Daily. The word “brio” is a synonym for life, for vibrancy, he added. 

“We are maintaining our local communities and local services with 24 communities and services,” Feyko said. The names of the current locations and service lines in the Brio family will remain the same. Over the next few months, Brio’s new branding will be added to the website and community and corporate materials.

“When the organizations came together, there was a lot of respect [and] also a lot of pride about what each organization has accomplished over its lifespan,” James Kelly, chief sales and marketing officer, told the McKnight’s Business Daily. “And so, we kept both of those names [UMRC and Porter Hills], because both sides really wanted to have that ‘ambiguity.’ ”

The rebranding, he said, was driven by the board, which started asking for a single-word moniker about eight months into the affiliation. “They were looking for something that would really unify us as an organization,” Kelly said.

The individual communities will retain their individual names but will add the Brio connection. Chelsea Retirement Community, for example, has been around since 1906, and the community will not lose that identity. It will be branded as “Chelsea Retirement Community, a Brio Living Services Community,” he said.

“They’ll be part of the family but maintain that community feel that people take a lot of pride in. Frankly, most people move to a specific community as opposed to the large corporation,” Fetyko said.

“The brand coming together as one is truly symbolic of these two large organizations working well together and creating great spaces for seniors to not only live but participate in as well,” Kelly said. “I think it is really a nod to the fact that affiliations are a good thing in the entire nation for senior living. It is possible; they can succeed.”