The story of Grid Partners, Inc. began more than six decades ago built on a foundation of strong relationships, industry knowledge and a commitment to serving the utility market,

Our roots trace back to the 1960s when Bud Tuley founded a manufacturers’ representative agency serving the electric utility industry, Tuley & Associates. Several manufacturers represented during those early years remain part of our line card today, including Southern States and Trench.

In the mid 1970's, Bud’s son, Collins Tuley joined the company after graduating from the University of Kansas. Tuley & Associates. He focused primarily on electric utilities throughout Missouri and Kansas. Tuley & Associates continued serving the industry until 1996.

In 1996, Collins Tuley and Thom Hiemer merged their respective companies, Tuley & Associates and Midstates Electrical Sales & Service to form TM Sales. The combined organization represented manufacturers in both the electric utility and commercial/industrial markets. This came at the encouragement of Milbank Manufacturing as they were wanting to consolidate both utility reps with their commercial/industrial reps.

During this period, Jeff McMullen and Eric Niemann joined TM Sales as Account Managers.

In 2002, the utility and commercial/industrial portions of TM Sales separated once again. As Collins began planning for the future and a new succession plan he formed McMullen-Niemann & Associates alongside Jeff McMullen and Eric Niemann.

McMullen-Niemann focused on the electric utility market along with the telecommunications market throughout Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and the northeast part of Oklahoma.

In 2015, Jessie McMullen began working at McMullen-Niemann with plans to be involved in future ownership and succession plan.

Collins retired from McMullen-Niemann in 2019.

Garret Taylor began working at McMullen-Niemann in 2023, with the desire to become an owner.

In 2026, Eric Niemann was bought out and the company name was changed to Grid Partners, Inc. with Jeff McMullen, Jessie McMullen and Garret Taylor as owners.

We are very proud of the company history, the employees through various phases and grateful to our manufacturers and customers who have supported us throughout our journey.

We believe being a manufacturers representative means more than sales. It means building lasting relationships through communication, knowledge and trust to find solutions.

Partnership: We believe the best results come from working together.

Relationships: We believe strong, long lasting relationships are the foundation of everything we do.

Knowledge: We believe continuous learning strengthens our understanding of products, applications and the industry allowing us to be a valuable resource.

Communication: We believe clear, honest and consistent communication builds trust.

Solutions: We believe the best solutions start with understanding and working together.

To be more than a sales agency. We want to be a trusted partner and resource for both our manufacturers and customers.