Rep Data Announces New Technology and Product Leadership to Outpace Survey Fraud

Former Kantar CIO, Joe Baldini, to lead Rep Data's technology; Vignesh Krishnan, Founder of Research Defender to lead product

NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Rep Data, the data quality leader for the market research industry, today announced an executive leadership update designed to sharpen focus on Product and Technology. As part of the change, Joseph "Joe" Baldini has been appointed Chief Technology Officer, and Founder of Research Defender, Vignesh Krishnan, will lead Rep Data's newly formalized Product division.

In an industry where product and technology are often combined under a single function, Rep Data is intentionally separating the two. The move allows each discipline to operate with clearer accountability, greater focus and faster execution. The shift is intended to strengthen product development through closer customer alignment while maintaining a resilient, efficient technology foundation capable of keeping pace with increasingly sophisticated fraud tactics.

"Creating dedicated Product and Technology leadership is a strategic move for Rep Data," said Patrick Stokes, founder and CEO of 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."

Baldini, who joined Rep Data's Board of Directors in 2025, brings more than 20 years of experience leading enterprise technology initiatives across global research organizations, high-growth start-ups, and data enterprises. At Kantar, he served as Chief Information Officer, responsible for shaping and delivering technology strategy across the company's worldwide research operations. Earlier in his career, he led engineering and product development at Lightspeed GMI prior to its acquisition by Kantar, and has held senior technology leadership roles at Apollo Intelligence, Muze Inc., Sabey DataCenter, Exodus Communications and Premera Blue Cross.

"Rep Data is solving one of the most critical problems in modern research," Baldini said. "I'm excited to work more closely with the engineering and product teams to scale our platforms, strengthen fraud defenses, and ensure our technology keeps pace with the realities researchers face today."

With the formation of Product as a distinct executive-led function, Krishnan will oversee product vision, roadmap execution and product teams to ensure Rep Data's solutions continue to address real research challenges and evolving customer needs. Krishnan brings deep experience leading product and technology teams across the market research and data industry, including senior product leadership roles at Lucid and prior experience building and scaling research-driven platforms such as Research Defender. His background spans engineering, technology management, and business leadership, positioning him to guide product strategy as Rep Data's offerings expand.

"As Rep Data grows, it's increasingly important that product leadership stays closely connected to the real challenges researchers face," Krishnan said. "My focus is on ensuring our products are grounded in those needs and that our teams continue building practical, high-quality solutions the industry can trust."

These leadership updates support Rep Data's continued investment in its core platforms, including Research Desk, its centralized DIY sampling solution, and Research Defender, its fraud prevention system designed to detect and block increasingly complex forms of survey fraud.

About Rep Data
Rep Data is a technology-driven data and insights partner, helping insights professionals streamline insights initiatives with a focus on data quality and consistent execution. Partnering with market research agencies, consultancies, Fortune 500 corporations, advertising and brand strategy firms, universities, and public relations agencies, Rep Data delivers real, reliable, and fraud-free research data at scale. Its solutions include: Research Desk, a centralized DIY sampling platform that enhances efficiency and data quality; and Research Defender, an advanced fraud prevention system that conducts 2.9 billion security scans annually to protect data integrity. Through tech-enabled services, Rep Data provides expert support to help organizations scale with confidence. Committed to high-quality data and innovative tech-enabled solutions, Rep Data is redefining market research to drive faster, more reliable insights. For more information, visit www.repdata.com.

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SOURCE Rep Data