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RAY GRAINGER
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN
KANTATA
WHY: Spent 17 years at Accenture, including global managing partner in professional services. Founded Mavenlink to reinvent the way services businesses work by simplifying enterprise workflows. Was on Deloitte Technology Fast 500 for three straight years. Merged with Kimble Applications in 2022 and renamed Kantata, where he is now executive chairman. Company’s cloud-based software gained traction during the pandemic as the platform helps professional services firms streamline operations by improving how teams track time and expenses, manage finances, oversee projects and communicate.
IN THE NEWS: Played a key role in orchestrating the merger between Irvine and London-based companies serving the professional services vertical. Said his quest for more capital and growth led to the merger. The deal, at the time, positioned Kantata as one of the dominant global players in the professional services software space. Today, Kantata serves over 1.5K professional services organizations in more than 100 countries. While a global company, Grainger said Irvine remains the company’s “center of gravity.”
NOTABLE: A self-described “explorer at heart,” took two expeditions to Antarctica in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the National Science Foundation. “You can’t leave—you’ve got to be resourceful. You can’t just go down to Home Depot and get tools,” he told the Business Journal. In 2019, was named a Business Journal Innovator of the Year.
IN HIS WORDS: “My role will be market-facing, leveraging my three decades plus in the services industry, working with analysts who cover our industry, in terms of elevating our profile in the industry on a global basis.”