Hi, I’m Krista
I drive innovation with accountability, empathy, and excellence.
Technology Executive | AI/ML Strategist | Team Builder | Advisor
-
![Technical]()
Proven Technical & Entrepreneurial Leadership
Over 15 successful product launches and 4 successful funding rounds
-
![Products]()
15+ Scalable and delightful products shipped
Over 200 million of users served reliably, at scale
-
![Teams]()
Commitment to Excellence
Building diverse, mission-driven, high-performance teams
About Me
My journey in technology leadership started with a foundation in academic excellence and was shaped by my experiences in both industry and military training. Drawing inspiration from principles outlined in Extreme Ownership and Radical Candor, I have fostered an inclusive culture where accountability and innovation thrive.
Throughout my career, I have driven projects across organizations such as Google, Robinhood, and Cultivo, focusing on integrating cutting-edge technology with strategic foresight. My mission is to empower teams to push boundaries while ensuring every step taken aligns with ethical practices and long-term business goals.
My Approach
Clarity & Collaboration
I believe in fostering a culture where team members are empowered to take ownership of their work. I emphasize clear communication and collaboration across cross-functional teams, ensuring that everyone understands their roles and their collective goals. This approach not only drives accountability but also cultivates an environment where innovative ideas can flourish.
Purpose Driven Innovation & Excellence
I am committed to obsessing over customer experience, ensuring that products not only meet but exceed user expectations. I advocate for a relentless pursuit of excellence, encouraging my teams to challenge the status quo and innovate down to the details. By prioritizing customer feedback, user data, and continuous improvement, I ensure that my teams deliver impactful solutions that fundamentally resonate with our customers.
Driving Innovation & Technical Excellence
It’s an exciting time to be a technologist with the many inventions and innovations of the past decade. I commit to staying abreast of new technologies and continue to consider possibilities on the horizon to ensure the best trajectory for my teams.
Leadership Ideology
Fostering Innovation and Creativity
Creativity is King in technology. Many technology companies are built just past the boundaries of the imagination. I encourage creative expression, discourse, and idea incubation in my teams to promote the most innovative work experiences.
Building High-Performance Teams
I build high-performing, diverse, mission-driven teams through a combination of extreme ownership and radical candor. I encourage team members to engage in high accountability while giving them support and foundations to develop their talents and achieve their goals.
Balancing Short-Term Goals & Long-Term Vision
I focus on flexibility and thrive in ambiguity. The future is always ambiguous, but you never get anywhere without the first step. I balance this with frequent reassessments of the surrounding landscape (emerging technologies, policy updates, societal changes) and employ frameworks to keep my team flexible and responsive.
Strategic Decision Making
Any decision will only be as good as the information you have and your capacity to turn that information into an outcome. I practice a data-driven approach to decision making with meticulous attention to business alignment and risk evaluation.
Ethical and Responsible Leadership
I keep the difficult questions in the forefront of my mind. Who’s not in the room? What are the sustainability consequences of our actions? What are the privacy and security concerns of our users? This helps me pose the critical “how might we” questions. How might we build a more conscientious, inclusive, and secure product?
What Folks are Saying…
"[Her] work on ACLaim and all [her] other contributions have been fantastic and really pushed things forward, [she has] been key to us being able to scale up how we do security. "
Darren Bilby, Director of Security Engineering, Google
"Krista is an insightful, analytical engineer with strong leadership and collaboration skills. She was a pleasure to work with! … I would gladly work with Krista again and, given her variety of talents, feel that she would be a great asset in just about any software engineering context."
Nate Starun, Technical Lead, Senior Software Engineer, Google
"[Krista] improved massively the dynamics [of the] team and its interactions with the rest of the company… Krista can very calmly and rationally resolve problems and conflicts. I’ve seen this in action at sprint planning. She can go deep into the detail and unpack a problem with reason and wisdom, and come up with a good workable solution."
Manuel Pinuela, CEO, Cultivo
"Krista's not just a tech wizard; she's a leader who knows how to make things happen. What really stands out about Krista is how she blends her deep tech knowledge with real-world leadership. She's got this knack for seeing the big picture and making it easy for everyone to get on board with her vision."
Jefferson Ondze-Mangha, Technical Lead, Founding Software Engineer, Cocaptain
Get in Touch!
Feel free to reach out over LinkedIn if you’d like to connect.
