Meet Kendra Cato
We sat down with Kendra, our new Director of Strategic Partnerships to talk about all things partnership – and how it benefits our clients.
A Little Background
Hi all! My name is Kendra Cato and I am thrilled to be the new Director of Strategic Partnerships at AP. For the past 20 years I’ve been involved in strategic planning, sales, marketing, and research, with the last 10 being dedicated to the staffing industry. I’m actively involved in industry groups like ASA and SIA and I also work as a speaker, author, and co-founder of Women of Color in Staffing.
I’m a big believer in the power of people to create change, drive innovation, and foster collaboration. In this new role, I am excited to use my skills to build meaningful connections between people and organizations. Empowering staffing firms and building a strong community are passions of mine, and I’m excited to get to work! On the personal side, I’m an avid traveler who enjoys meeting people around the world, while also finding great comfort in spending quiet time connecting with cherished family, friends, and of course my beloved dog, Kali.
What is most important to you when it comes to partnership?
What is most important to me is improving our client experience by enhancing our service offerings. The partnerships that I am helping develop all have aligned goals and shared vision – to help staffing firms succeed. My goal is to build a strong foundation that we can continue to build on in order to help our clients scale.
It’s also very personally important to me to support women in this industry – I want us all to have these incredible opportunities. I’m very passionate about giving women a real opportunity to succeed in this industry.
What do you envision for the partnership program now and in the future?
I envision an ecosystem of partners that will truly help our staffing firm clients reach the next level of their goals. I would say my main goal right now is understanding our clients and their challenges. If I can understand what technologies they are using and what their goals are, that helps me connect them with other products and services that will help. When I was at Bullhorn leading Enterprise Sales strategy, I got a chance to see all the best-in-class tech and strategic partners that the large firms had access to. Now, I’m passionate about bringing those same opportunities to small and midsized firms.
How can these partnerships benefit Advance Partners clients?
I want to provide access to services and education that our clients may or may not have had access to before. Maybe it’s a vetted tech stack consultant, or a trustworthy M&A consultant. The point is, I want to put opportunities in front of people. Maybe it’s an education workshop that typically you would pay thousands for, but now we can offer that as a client benefit.