Christa serves as the Strategy Advisor and Seminar Lead for Life Sciences and Healthcare at Impono. As the Founder, she is also the face of the LLC, which she designed as a network and mosaic of diverse independent consultants with shared values and similar passion for demystifying biotechnology for global public good.
In addition to her work at Impono, Christa is an Executive-in-Residence / Professor of the Practice and Lead Faculty for the Enterprise (business) Concentration for the Masters of Science, Biotechnology Program at Northeastern University. Her focus is to set and co-lead a global growth strategy with the outcome of a recognized “Global Best Program” in Biotechnology. As part of this effort, she leverages her professional network while designing and instructing courses that teach the business and leadership of biotech.
She brings her unique and renowned pedagogy for teaching Biotechnology Business to various public, private and government agencies via Impono. While previous books and teachings focused primarily on drug and biologics development, she and her team offer a more holistic approach-- the first of its kind-- to focus instead on the collaborative, interdependent and alliance-heavy manner in which biotechnology is brought to deserving patients in need (biopharma) and/or consumers (agritech, biofuels, etc).
In 2020, she was responsible for the design, implementation and leadership hand-off of Northeastern's COVID-19 Cabot Testing Center, Huntington Testing Center, and Bouvé Burlington Testing Center. With her work as a COVID-19 Testing Expert, she also co-led the stand-up of Northeastern's Life Sciences Testing Center (CLIA-Certified Lab).
Her 25+ year career has placed unique emphasis on business models that integrate the Sales, Operations, Financial and People side of business. In the last 10 years in biotech/pharma, she has launched products and/or led growth initiatives for diagnostic and therapeutic products such as Axumin®, Quadramet®, DEFINITY®, and Luminity. She has also led 483 (compliance) Remediations, Quality Enhancement Programs, and Operational Efficiency Programs. Previous to biotech/pharma, Christa worked in a range of industries such as Aerospace and Defense, SAAS, HR Business Outsourcing, Financial Management, and Professional Services.
Philanthropically, Christa is part of the #GiveGirlsRoleModels and STEM-GEMs movement originating in Atlanta, GA and fiercely seeks to offer girls and young women role models in STEAM careers. She is a former Executive Advisor (and current Strategy Advisor) for The Women’s Brain Project in Switzerland, creating their Business Plan and offering the framework strategy for years 1 and 2 as she continues to help the organization grow and thrive going forward. She is also a Board Advisor for Dreams Soar, Inc., in which she previously served a full term as a Member of the Board of Directors.
Christa has an MBA from Northeastern University, a second Masters in Management from the University of Dallas, is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) with PMI, and is a Master Certified Strategic Organizational Leader from Villanova University. She is completing her Doctorate in Business Administration at Drexel University, with a scheduled February 2023 defense, "Employee Voice Behavior in Highly Regulated Industries," which serves as the basis for improving performance and significantly reducing risks in industries such as biotechnology, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, aviation, aerospace, and defense as well as financial management, global HR outsourcing, and government oversight organizations.
For more details on her background and impact, please view her profile and connect with her on LinkedIn.