About Us
Be Different. Deliver Excellence.
Service delivery for Managed IT Services is complex, so we built our partner model differently to help Service Providers avoid missteps and accelerate their success.
As your partner and an extension of your team, we are committed to helping you keep your customers for a lifetime.
We built a culture and environment for our teams to easily communicate, share knowledge and identify opportunities to best serve you and your customers.
Collabrance LLC builds strategic, long term, mutually beneficial partnerships with progressive Service Providers of business technology solutions committed to providing exceptional Managed IT Services, or Managed Network Services, to their customers. You maintain ownership of the customer, while we deliver service excellence through a comprehensive suite of IT solutions and behind-the-scenes customer support.
“Collabrance is here to help us, help our customers. That's not the same in any other dealership or anybody else you're going to look at compared to Collabrance."
– Preston Woolfolk, DOCUmation
Collabrance is unlike other Master Managed Services Providers (MSPs). We enable partners to provide exceptional Managed IT Services with proven strategies, differentiation and service excellence to grow your business.
History
Collabrance, a GreatAmerica Company, was formed to create new revenue opportunities in the changing markets of our partners.
Faced with the prospect of growing their Managed IT Services business, office equipment, copier, telecom, MSPs, and IT providers were challenged with large cash outlays, and hiring personnel with new skill sets.
GreatAmerica provides business innovations beyond financing to help their partners achieve greater success. In 2009, GreatAmerica launched Collabrance to help Service Providers expand their business to Managed IT Services and embark on the path of becoming a trusted technology advisor for their customers.
Collabrance and GreatAmerica now help Service Providers gain the experience, personnel, and tools to profitably scale their Managed IT Services business faster with less risk. As the Managed IT Services industry evolves and changes, Collabrance is designed to build stronger relationships by staying involved with partners and provide ongoing support.
Collabrance was created to provide Partners a low risk option to profitably quickly get into managed services.
Leadership Team
Advance your Managed IT Services strategy with the expertise of our leaders.
We want you to have all the resources you need to improve your Managed IT Services business. Partners are encouraged to contact our leaders who will share their knowledge and experience on financial modeling and benchmarking, metrics and KPI trending, personnel and structure, and organizational change management.
Greg VanDeWalker
Senior Vice President of IT Channel and Services
Greg VanDeWalker
Greg VanDeWalker, Senior Vice President of IT Channel and Services, is responsible for the strategic vision and performance of Collabrance and the GreatAmerica IT and Unified Communication Financing business units.
Prior to joining GreatAmerica in 2003, Greg was the General Manager for the transportation division of US Bancorp in Denver, Colorado. He began his leasing career in 1991 with Business Credit Leasing (BCL) in sales and sales management. Prior to BCL, Greg was a tax accountant for Arthur Andersen & Company.
Greg has consistently been recognized for his leadership in the IT channel. He was honored by CRN in 2016-2018 as Channel Chief, and was named on the "100 People You Don't Know But Should" list in 2015. Greg has also served as Chair of the inaugural Managed Print Services Community of CompTIA, and has helped various advisory boards in the IT, Telephony and Office Equipment channels.
Greg received his B.S. degree in accounting.
Greg VanDeWalker
Senior Vice President of IT Channel and Services
Doug Grimm
Vice President and General Manager
Doug Grimm
Doug Grimm, Vice President and General Manager, is responsible for the overall vision, including sales, marketing, operations, strategic leadership and financial performance.
Prior to joining Collabrance in 2012 as the Senior Analyst, Doug started at GreatAmerica in 2002. Before working at GreatAmerica, he served in various finance and accounting roles for a publicly traded company in the telecommunications industry. Doug began his professional career with Arthur Andersen LLP. In his tenure with GreatAmerica, he has held various positions within the finance department, and also served as the Director of Sales in the Office Equipment Group.
Doug earned his B.A. in Accounting from Luther College and was a Certified Public Accountant.
Doug Grimm
Vice President and General Manager
Jim Hocking
Director of Sales
Jim Hocking
Jim Hocking, Director of Sales, is responsible for building the strategic vision for sales and marketing while providing business planning, education, training, and sales assistance to partners. He is also responsible for originating new partnerships for Collabrance.
Prior to joining Collabrance in 2016, Jim started at
GreatAmerica in 2011. While at GreatAmerica, Jim held multiple sales positions
in the Office Equipment Group, and the Communications and Data Group. He also
served as a Sales Mentor. Jim began his professional career with Pitney Bowes
in 2004 spending seven years in sales and sales management positions before
joining GreatAmerica.
Jim received his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Northern Iowa.
Jim Hocking
Director of Sales
Hollie Braid
Director of Service Delivery
Hollie Braid
Hollie Braid, Director of Service Delivery, is responsible for unified, strategic leadership in service areas, including service activation, preventative maintenance, user support, training and quality.
Prior to joining Collabrance in 2009, Hollie started at GreatAmerica in 2006. Before working at GreatAmerica, Hollie worked in IT for Verizon. Hollie joined GreatAmerica as a member of the Service Desk. In 2007, she became the support behind the GreatAmerica FleetView product. Hollie was part of the team that launched Collabrance, and in 2011 she became the Service Team Leader.
Hollie received her Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix.
Hollie Braid
Director of Service Delivery
Brian Wells
Director of Product Development
Brian Wells
Brian Wells, Director of
Product Development, is responsible for the product and service offerings, as well as helping partners, team members, suppliers and stakeholders understand the
program.
Prior to joining Collabrance, Brian was the Director of Information Technology for two other Eastern Iowa organizations. He started his own VAR and MSP business in 1996, and sold it in 2006.
Brian has over 30 years of experience in the IT space. He joined Collabrance as a Tier 3 Engineer before being promoted to his current role on the leadership team.
Brian Wells
Director of Product Development
Corey Kerns
Director of Finance and Operations
Corey Kerns
Corey Kerns, Senior Finance and Operations Analyst, is responsible for developing and monitoring key performance indicators, as well as assisting in the evaluation of profitability, efficiency and automation strategies.
Prior to joining Collabrance in 2015, Corey started at GreatAmerica in January 2011 and served as the Senior Business Unit Analyst for the Communication & Data Group. As the Business Unit Analyst, Corey led all activities with respect to financial controls and evaluating the financial implications of the business unit’s operating strategy.
Corey received his B.A. in Business Administration from Wartburg College and earned an M.B.A. from the University of Iowa.
Corey Kerns
Director of Finance and Operations
Vision, Mission, & Principles
As a GreatAmerica Company, these concepts guide us in our daily work.
Vision
Our passion for excellence in everything we do will make us a business without competition.
Mission
We help our Customers achieve greater success.
Principles
- We deliver on our commitments and provide excellence.
- We are solution driven, tenacious, and rise to the occasion.
- We live our values with utmost integrity.
- We trust and treat each other with respect.
- We build enduring relationships and are committed to mutual success.
- We create an environment conducive to greatness and to a positive image of GreatAmerica and Collabrance.
- We celebrate successes, share rewards, and make time for fun.
- We continuously enhance value through innovation and improvement.
- We look at the whole picture.
- We create opportunities for growth and take charge of the future.