iManage appoints Ryan Begin & David Zember to partner roles

iManage has appointed Ryan Begin and David Zember to senior partner leadership roles as part of its global partner strategy.

Begin joins as Vice President, Technology Partnerships and Ecosystem Strategy, while Zember has been named Vice President, Global Channels and Alliances. Both are based in the United States and report to Pat Eskew, iManage's Chief Revenue Officer.

The appointments split senior leadership across technology partnerships and channel relationships. Begin will lead technology alliances, integration partners and the broader ecosystem strategy around the iManage platform. Zember will oversee strategic alliances, resellers and implementation partners within the go-to-market organisation.

The move comes as software companies place greater emphasis on partner networks to extend distribution, build integrations and drive customer adoption. For iManage, it brings commercial partnerships and technical ecosystem planning under leaders with experience in platform strategy and channel operations.

Partner roles

Begin will work across product, engineering, marketing and go-to-market teams. His remit includes setting the direction for technology partnerships and establishing the technical and commercial structure for a broader ecosystem around iManage.

Zember's role focuses on how the business works with external partners to reach customers and deliver services. His responsibilities include setting partnership goals, aligning internal teams and improving execution across alliances and channels.

Eskew outlined the rationale for the hires in a statement accompanying the appointments. "Partners have always been central to iManage's success, and both Ryan and David bring important strengths that will help us scale our strategy for the next phase of growth," said Pat Eskew, Chief Revenue Officer at iManage. "Ryan brings deep expertise in ecosystem strategy, technology partnerships, and platform development, while David brings extensive experience building high-performing global partner programs across channels and alliances. Together, they will help us build a more coordinated, partner-first approach that expands value for customers, partners, and iManage."

Begin background

Begin joins with extensive experience in platform ecosystem development. He spent 14 years at Salesforce, where he worked on AppExchange and the company's independent software vendor and partner ecosystem.

That work helped scale the marketplace to more than 7,000 apps and generated more than USD $6 billion in partner revenue, according to iManage. His experience also includes building partner programmes and linking technical integration work with commercial models.

That background is relevant as iManage looks to expand the number of external technologies connected to its software. Organisations are increasingly seeking to link core systems of record with other applications used across the knowledge work process, particularly as demand for automation and interoperability rises.

Begin pointed to that shift in his own remarks. "iManage is at an important inflection point," said Ryan Begin, Vice President, Technology Partnerships and Ecosystem Strategy at iManage. "Customers are rethinking how knowledge work gets done. AI, automation, and interoperability are no longer future ideas, they are current expectations. That creates a real opportunity to extend our reach through the right technology partners and deliver more complete outcomes for our customers."

Zember experience

Zember brings more than 30 years of experience across engineering, sales, alliances and executive management. Most recently, he led worldwide partners, alliances and independent software vendor strategy at Qlik.

At Qlik, the partner organisation accounted for about half of annual recurring revenue, according to iManage. Under Zember's leadership, the programme also received repeated industry recognition, including CRN five-star ratings and awards related to AI, cloud and data analytics.

Earlier in his career, Zember held senior roles at Verint and Amazon Web Services. Those positions included work with strategic accounts and enterprise customers on large-scale cloud adoption projects.

His appointment suggests iManage wants deeper operational focus on how partners influence sales execution and customer deployment. That is increasingly important for software suppliers that rely on resellers, service providers and strategic alliances to expand into new accounts and support implementation work.

Zember framed his role around that broader partner model. "I've always been a true believer in ecosystem selling and the power of partnership," said David Zember, Vice President, Global Channels and Alliances. "iManage has built a trusted foundation for knowledge work, and that foundation is what enables confident, scalable AI. I'm excited to work with our partners to build modern, partner-first programs that support customers today while positioning iManage for its next phase of growth."

iManage says its software is used by more than one million professionals across 4,000 organisations worldwide.