Speaker Bio
Krista Bourne is Chief Operating Officer for Verizon Consumer Group. In this role, she is responsible for the deployment of a fully-integrated omni channel experience propelled by a keen focus on operational excellence. She leads a distributed team of passionate employees who serve more than 100 million customers and deliver more than $88 billion in annual revenue.
During her 20-plus year tenure with Verizon, Krista has focused on providing extraordinary customer experiences across several parts of the business. She began her career as a mailroom assistant in upstate New York. She has since held various positions of increasing responsibility including director roles in customer service and retail sales and regional president for Houston Gulf Coast and Carolina/Tennessee regions. She served as market president of the 12-state South Central market where she led her team to consistently exceed financial and operations targets while returning the market to revenue growth. Most recently, as SVP and President of Sales and Operations, Krista played an integral role in the Consumer Group’s transformation and retail strategy which included leading the national launch of Curbside Pick Up, providing a safe, reliable way to shop in retail during the COVID-19 global pandemic while creating a new distribution channel for the company.
With each of her assignments, Krista has fostered a transparent, collaborative, purpose-driven workplace culture. Additionally, she has championed challenging bias, embracing diversity and inclusion and mentoring underrepresented groups such as women and minorities into sales leadership roles.
She has been recognized with a WeQual Award for her outstanding career contribution and potential future impact. Krista’s commitment to addressing digital literacy and the underrepresentation of minorities has been recognized by the Dallas Business Journal, C-STEM and MAKERS.
As an advocate for women’s rights and advancement, Krista uses her voice to encourage women to relentlessly pursue their dreams and create opportunities for others along the way. She currently serves on the board of Dress For Success Worldwide. Her past service includes appointments on the boards of Houston Area Women’s Center, Houston Technology Center and the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce.
Originally from Rochester, NY, Krista earned a Professional Retail Sales Management (PRSM) certification from Bellevue College. She and her husband are proud parents of a son and a daughter.