Krista Licata

Senior Director, Operations

Krista Licata began supporting biotech startups at LabCentral in 2014, and now oversees all site operations teams in the LabCentral network. She returns to this role after spending 2020-2022 as interim Executive Director for the launch of LabCentral Ignite: LabCentral’s platform addressing gender and racial equity in the biotech industry. In addition to her work in operations, Krista has been Project Manager and consulted on buildouts of LabCentral's expansion projects including the Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab, LabCentral’s 700 Main Street expansion, LabCentral 610, MIT’s The Engine, and served as the organizational lead for the initial product development and design stages of LabCentral 238.  

Krista's previous roles have been that of building efficiency and resources for organizations that are in transition and growing rapidly. She got the start-up bug in natural/specialty foods in brand, financial, and operations management as a co-founder or early hire. Prior to this, Krista worked with multiple non-profit organizations in the arts, education, and child advocacy. She is a Teach for America alumni and was proud to be selected as Besteiro Middle School’s Teacher of the Year by her administrators and peers. Krista holds a master’s degree in public administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a bachelor’s degree in natural resource management from Cornell University.

Favorite school science project: “My favorite science fair project explored how residential cleaners effect plant growth (my hypothesis was way wrong and it was awesome).”