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Partnerships expert & Vested® creator

Kate Vitasek

Business Strategy

Business Growth

Brand Partnerships

Kate Vitasek helps organizations build high-performance partnerships and cultures. A University of Tennessee faculty member, she delivers research-backed frameworks for creating more strategic relationships and collaborative business models, recognized with the 2025 Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award.

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Trusted by EY Sweden, Intel, Blue Shield

Kate Vitasek

Seattle, United States

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Seattle, United States

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+44 203 835 2929

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Kate Vitasek's biography

Business Consulting

Business Leader

Women in Business

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Thinkers50

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At a glance

Creator of the Vested® business model for highly collaborative relationships
University of Tennessee faculty member, researcher, and award-winning author
Featured in 400+ publications, including in HBR and FAST Company

Kate Vitasek has spent decades researching why business partnerships fail and building a proven framework to fix that. Her Vested® business model has reshaped how organizations structure contracts and collaboration. A faculty member at the University of Tennessee, Kate received the 2025 Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award and was named one of World Trade Magazine's "Fabulous 50+1" most influential people impacting global commerce. She has authored eight books, including Vested: How P&G, McDonald's and Microsoft Are Redefining Winning in Business Relationships and Getting to We. Kate's research draws on real-world case studies to help companies move beyond transactional supplier relationships and shift from a "me" to "we" mindset. Her work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Economist, and FAST Company, and she has appeared on CNN International, Bloomberg, NPR, and Fox Business News. This breadth of exposure reflects how widely her ideas have traveled across industries. Audiences leave Kate's sessions with a clear understanding of why traditional contracts create adversarial dynamics, a practical framework for structuring partnerships that align incentives on both sides, and specific tools drawn from Fortune 500 implementations. Kate brings research-backed, field-tested thinking to one of the most overlooked drivers of business performance: how organizations work with each other.

Kate's showreel and videos

Topics, sessions and talks

The Vested Way: Redefining Business Relationships

Kate Vitasek challenges the assumptions underpinning how most organizations structure their business relationships, making the case that transactional thinking creates adversarial dynamics even where both parties intend to collaborate. Drawing on real-world examples of companies that moved beyond "us vs. them" contracting, she introduces the Five Rules of Vested® to help organizations unlock partnership value that conventional approaches leave on the table. Attendees leave ready to rethink the game they are playing in their existing relationships.

Getting To We: Five Steps For Creating An Engaged, Collaborative Culture

Kate Vitasek argues that getting to yes is no longer enough. The organizations winning today are those that have learned to get to we. This session introduces a proven five-step approach for shifting from a "what's in it for me" to a “What’s in it for We” mindset, drawing on real-world examples of organizations that made the transition from internal competition to aligned engagement. Attendees leave with practical tools to begin building the conditions for a culture that sustains collaboration over time.

Choosing Transparency And Trust To Enable High-Performing Teams

Kate Vitasek reframes trust not as something that must be slowly earned, but as something leaders can actively choose to create. Grounded in research into how leading organizations have achieved breakthrough performance, this session introduces five pillars for building transparency and trust in teams and partnerships. Rather than treating trust as an intangible quality, Kate gives attendees practical tools to foster it deliberately and systematically and shows what becomes possible for teams when they do.

Vested Outsourcing: Five Rules That Transform Outsourcing Relationships

Kate Vitasek exposes why traditional outsourcing models fall short and what to do instead. Drawing on the research behind her Vested framework, she shows how the Five Rules of Vested Outsourcing shift relationships from transactional to transformational using real case studies. Attendees leave with a clear methodology for redesigning how they work with outsourcing partners, and the motivation to act on it.

Why we recommend booking Kate

Kate's Vested® framework has reshaped how businesses structure supplier relationships, moving towards aligned partnerships that deliver measurable performance gains. Her research-backed approach provides practical tools that leaders use to unlock value in their existing relationships, both within their teams and with their outsourcing partners.

Check Kate's availability

Trusted by EY Sweden, Intel, Blue Shield

Testimonials

Kate is the cutting-edge big thinker behind big deal making.

Magnus Kuchler

Markets Leader, Nordics and Country Managing Partner, EY Sweden

The benefits are so apparent. We have not had these kinds of results anywhere else in the world.

Todd Shire

Logistics Category Manager, Intel

Kate's RealPlay® workshops really delivered! We created an amazing foundation for a new strategic partnership – 100% virtually.

EVP & Chief Operating Officer, Blue Shield

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How do I book Kate Vitasek for my next event?

Email kate.vitasek@getapeptalk.com or call PepTalk on +44 20 3835 2929 (UK) or +1 737 888 5112 (US), and one of our speaker agents will contact you within hours to confirm availability and fees. If you can, please include your budget upfront – it helps us fast-track your request. It’s also helpful to know the date, format (virtual or in-person), location, and a bit about your audience. As speaker agents, PepTalk can secure Kate Vitasek for commercial and corporate events, conference keynotes, leadership talks, celebrity brand endorsements & partnerships, personal appearances, and motivational speaking engagements. We can assist with enquiries about Kate Vitasek's speaking fees, availability, and booking process for private business functions, industry conferences, and team events. Please note, for media interviews, autographs, charity appearances, or personal matters, we recommend contacting Kate Vitasek directly.

What is Kate Vitasek's speaking style like?

Kate delivers practical, research-based insights with clarity and impact. Her engaging style inspires collaboration, drives innovation, and consistently produces measurable results for leaders and teams in global organisations.

What topics does Kate Vitasek specialise in?

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