RepData Splits Product and Technology under New Leaders

RepData has announced two leadership appointments to sharpen its focus on Product and Technology - while stressing the separation of the two areas. Former Kantar CIO Joe Baldini joins as CTO, and Vignesh Krishnan, the founder of Research Defender, will lead a newly formalized Product division.

Headquartered in New Orleans and founded in 2019 by former Lucid and Research Now exec Patrick Stokes, RepData offers a centralized DIY sampling platform called Research Desk, and an anti-fraud software platform, Research Defender, whose software matches respondents to relevant surveys and prevents sample fraud / duplication. Last August, the company launched ResearchU, a self-service sampling and survey platform built specifically for university researchers.

RepData says in an industry where product and technology are often combined under a single function, it is 'intentionally separating the two,' allowing each to operate with 'clearer accountability, greater focus and faster execution.' Product development will aim for closer customer alignment, while the firm's technology foundation will aim to be resilient, efficient, and keep pace with increasingly sophisticated fraud tactics.

Baldini (pictured above) already sits on the company's board of Directors - he joined last year - and brings more than twenty years of experience to his new role, leading enterprise technology initiatives across global research and data organizations, and high-growth start-ups. As CIO at Kantar he was responsible for shaping and delivering technology strategy across worldwide research operations. Earlier he led engineering and product development at Lightspeed GMI, prior to its acquisition by Kantar. He has also held senior technology leadership roles at Apollo Intelligence, Muze Inc., Sabey DataCenter, Exodus Communications and Premera Blue Cross.

Krishnan (pictured below) will head up the newly distinct executive-led Product function, overseeing product vision, roadmap execution and teams and ensuring continued advances to reflect customer needs and evolving challenges. His prior experience includes senior product leadership roles at Lucid, and building and scaling research-driven platforms such as Research Defender.

Founder and CEO Patrick Stokes comments: 'Creating dedicated Product and Technology leadership is a strategic move for Rep Data. As our platform expands and fraud tactics grow more sophisticated, we want product leadership staying tightly connected to the real challenges researchers face, while technology leadership focuses on building resilient, adaptable systems. This structure gives us the best of both with faster product development and a stronger, more scalable platform.'

Web site: www.repdata.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.