User:Ken Hanley

In the late 1990s, Ken Hanley saw untapped opportunities in the collision repair industry. The business was highly fragmented, and a spate of consolidations as well as changes in direct repair relationships had created favorable conditions for growth — but only for someone with the know-how to turn those conditions to their advantage.

Hanley was willing to gamble that he was one of those people. With a degree in finance and economics and eight years of experience in investment banking, he certainly had the business credentials. And, like many others in the industry, he also had a personal history in auto body repair.

His father, an entrepreneur and 30-year collision repair veteran, had recently passed away, leaving Hanley and his two brothers — John, an IT professional, and Rich, a police officer — with the difficult decision of taking over the business or selling it. “My brothers and I all went to college, and [my father] didn’t want us turning wrenches for a living. But we were always peripherally around the business and involved in it. We used to sweep the shop floors when we were kids,” says Ken Hanley. “When our father passed away, it was a traumatic event and we banded together. We felt we should continue the tradition [of the shop]. We wanted to invest back in it.”