Krista is the Chief Technology Officer of Saga Education. She came to Saga through its 2020 acquisition of Woot Math where she was the CEO and Co-Founder. Saga continues to support Woot Math, a research-backed platform designed to help teachers deeply engage and delight students through teacher-led, self-paced and peer-to-peer activities.
Prior to Woot Math, Krista was a Vice President at Disney. She came to Disney through its 2008 acquisition of Kerpoof where she was also CEO and Co-Founder. The tools created at Disney and Kerpoof allowed millions of children to create, save and share artwork in safe online environments. Krista was honored with the Kids at Play Interactive (KAPi) award for “Emerging Pioneer” at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show.
Prior to Kerpoof, Krista worked as a manager and hardware engineer. During this time, she managed products and product teams at Xilinx, a programmable logic semiconductor company. (All of the Woot Math co-founders worked at Xilinx for five or more years). Krista’s team won many awards during this time for delivering innovative networking solutions. Prior to Xilinx, she worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she won the lab’s highest achievement award for her contributions to high energy physics instrumentation.
Krista proudly serves on the board of directors for the National Center for Women & Information Technology and the Silicon Flatirons Center for Entrepreneurship (Univ. of Colorado). She is heavily involved in the Boulder startup scene and has been a Techstars mentor for many years. She holds multiple U.S. patents and a Bachelor’s in EECS from the University of South Carolina, where she was proud to be asked to give the 2011 Commencement Address for the College of Engineering and Computing.
Krista believes in the power of technology to help close the opportunity gap in education and ensure that all students have the math foundation they need to succeed. She is passionate about getting more youth, and especially girls, interested in technology and entrepreneurship. Krista’s drive to make a difference in these areas is also evidenced by her long history of volunteer work, including her involvement with NCWIT, FIRST Robotics, I Have A Dream, Expanding Your Horizons (EYH), CU’s Center for Entrepreneurship, and regular speaking events for youth on the awesomeness of STEM careers.
