Veteran technology leaders from ServiceNow, Google, and SAP join company to scale enterprise sales, expand strategic partnerships, and elevate brand awareness as demand for AI-powered Professional Services Automation solutions accelerates
IRVINE, Calif., July 28, 2026–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Kantata, a leading provider of Professional Services Automation (PSA) solutions, today announced three strategic additions to its executive leadership team as the company enters its next phase of growth. The appointments reflect Kantata’s continued investment in scaling its business, expanding its market leadership, and meeting increasing demand from professional services organizations.
Joining Kantata are Lisa Bianco as Chief Marketing Officer, Jeff Balistrere as Vice President of Enterprise Sales, North America, and Keith Bendy as Global Vice President of the Alliances & Channels Ecosystem. Collectively, the three leaders bring decades of experience building and scaling high-growth organizations at some of the world’s most recognized technology companies, including SAP, Google, and ServiceNow.
“Professional services is entering a new era, and organizations need more than incremental improvements. They need a fundamentally smarter way to run their business,” said Michael Speranza, CEO of Kantata. “Kantata is leading this transformation with AI purpose-built for professional services, and as we accelerate our growth, we’re investing in exceptional leaders who know how to scale world-class organizations. Jeff, Keith, and Lisa each bring this experience, and together will help us capitalize on the tremendous opportunity ahead of us.”
The leadership appointments follow a year of rapid innovation at Kantata. In October, the company introduced the Kantata Expertise Engine, the first AI platform purpose-built for professional services transformation. And last month, it launched Expertise Agent, the first AI superagent designed specifically for professional services.
These innovations further strengthen Kantata’s position as the technology provider driving the future of PSA with an AI-powered platform that goes beyond automating tasks to operationalize expertise, orchestrate human and AI workforces together, and deliver better business outcomes and position it strongly for long-term, sustainable growth.
Revving the Growth Engine
As Chief Marketing Officer, Bianco, who has a proven track record of amplifying brand and demand at hyper growth companies such as SAP, Red Hat, and Dev Rev, will lead Kantata’s global marketing organization and drive the planning, development, and global execution of the company’s marketing strategy to amplify the company’s brand, accelerate demand generation, and expand market awareness.
“Kantata is defining the future of professional services technology, combining category-leading innovation and a deep understanding of the needs of services organizations to create a powerful platform for growth,” said Bianco. “I’m joining at a pivotal moment and look forward to working with our world-class team to elevate our brand, expand our market leadership, and help more organizations see why the world’s leading services firms choose Kantata.”
As Vice President, Enterprise Sales, North America, Balistrere, who previously held global sales positions with Actifio (acquired by Google) and IBM, will expand Kantata’s enterprise go-to-market motion and help more of the world’s largest professional services organizations unleash the power of the company’s platform to modernize their operations.
“Kantata is defining the future of professional services with an exceptional team, passionate customers, and technology built specifically for the way services organizations operate,” said Balistrere. “The Expertise Engine and our AI innovations create a clear competitive advantage, and I’m eager to empower more enterprise organizations with a platform that can truly transform their business.”
As Global Vice President of the Alliances & Channels Ecosystem, Bendy, who held pivotal alliance roles at ServiceNow, Google, and other leading technology companies, will lead Kantata’s global alliances and channel strategy, building a partner ecosystem designed to extend customer value through strategic technology, consulting, and systems integration partnerships.
“Customers increasingly expect technology to work seamlessly across their business, and strong partnerships are essential to delivering that experience,” said Bendy. “Kantata has a tremendous opportunity to become the most partner-friendly platform in professional services by building deep, strategic relationships that create lasting value for customers, partners, and the broader ecosystem.”
Building the Future
Together, these appointments reflect Kantata’s continued investment in the people, technology, and partnerships needed to serve a rapidly growing global market.
“As professional services firms look to AI to improve productivity, profitability, and workforce agility, they don’t need more generic enterprise software, they need technology built specifically for the way services organizations operate,” Speranza added. “We’re investing ahead of the opportunity so we can continue delivering the innovation, expertise, and customer success our clients expect while extending our leadership in this rapidly evolving market.”
About Kantata
Kantata is a leading provider of Professional Services Automation (PSA) solutions that help professional services organizations and agencies ensure consistent excellence and profitability across projects. More than 1,500 organizations worldwide rely on Kantata to instantly assemble the ideal team, easily amplify institutional knowledge, and confidently forecast outcomes. Recognized as a Leader on G2’s PSA Software Grid® and Resource Management Software Grid®, and consistently ranked among the top project management software products in G2’s annual Best Software Awards, Kantata supports the full services lifecycle — from scoping and staffing to delivery and forecasting. For more information, visit www.kantata.com.
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