# Michael Speranza

> Michael Speranza is the CEO of Kantata, the professional services automation software company formed in 2022 from the merger of Mavenlink and Kimble Applications. A Rensselaer-trained electrical engineer who began his career at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory before pivoting to Deloitte Consulting and then a two-decade run inside private equity backed software companies, Speranza has specialized in scaling mid-market B2B software firms from roughly $100 million toward $1 billion in revenue.

- **Role:** Chief Executive Officer at Kantata
- **Organizations:** Kantata, Mavenlink, Kimble Applications, Avolin, Aptean, Avero, Deloitte Consulting, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S., Electrical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- **Known for:** Led the merger and rebrand of Mavenlink and Kimble Applications into Kantata., Grew Avolin to approximately $150 million in annual revenue after leading its divestiture from Aptean., Contributed as a NASA JPL systems analyst to an early successful Mars rover mission in the late 1990s.

## Career timeline

- **1998** — Graduates Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering.
- **Late 1990s** — Works as a systems analyst at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, contributing to an early successful Mars rover mission.
- **Early 2000s** — Moves to Deloitte Consulting.
- **2000s** — Joins Avero, a Thomas H. Lee-backed SaaS business intelligence start-up for the hospitality industry, as one of the first ten employees.
- **2010s** — Twenty-year run leading PE-backed software companies with Goldman Sachs, Silver Lake, Centerbridge and Vista Equity Partners.
- **2010s** — Runs a business inside Aptean, a global ERP and Supply Chain software provider.
- **2018** — Becomes CEO of Avolin after a divestiture from Aptean; grows the CRM/e-commerce/IT software provider to roughly $150 million in annual revenue.
- **2021** — Named CEO of Mavenlink and Kimble Applications following their merger.
- **2022** — Mavenlink and Kimble officially rebrand as Kantata, a professional services cloud.
- **2023** — Kantata expands with new executive appointments focused on AI-driven innovation.

## Achievements

- Led the merger and rebrand of Mavenlink and Kimble Applications into Kantata.
- Grew Avolin to approximately $150 million in annual revenue after leading its divestiture from Aptean.
- Contributed as a NASA JPL systems analyst to an early successful Mars rover mission in the late 1990s.
- Kantata Executive Team rated A+ on Comparably; personal CEO score of 86/100, placing the company in the top 5% of similar-size peers.
- Repeatedly scaled mid-market SaaS businesses from around $100M toward $1B in revenue across four PE portfolios (Goldman Sachs, Silver Lake, Centerbridge, Vista).

## Latest updates

- **2023-08** — Enterprise Times interview on Kantata's role in the digital transformation of professional services.
- **2023** — Announces new executive appointments at Kantata focused on AI-driven innovation and customer-centric solutions.
- **2025-01** — Featured on Kantata podcast Episode 7 on innovations in vertical SaaS and the Professional Services Cloud.

## Links

- Website: https://kantata.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsperanza/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/GoKantata
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/GoKantata

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/michael-speranza
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-09