Krista Livingston has spent 13 years building a successful specialty finance career in South Florida. After earning a psychology degree from the University of Central Florida, she took an unexpected path into finance. She started as an analyst at Veritas Financial Partners in 2012, quickly advancing to vice president and operations manager while earning her MBA.
In 2019, Livingston joined White Oak Commercial Finance (WOCF) when her team’s portfolio was acquired. She played a key role in establishing asset-based lending operations, driving efficiencies through technology and improving client experiences.
Honored as an SFNet 40 Under 40 recipient in 2022, Livingston’s achievement was especially meaningful. A four-year ovarian cancer survivor, she endured surgeries and chemotherapy while balancing a demanding career and three young children. She has led seasoned professionals with confidence and credits mentors and her husband’s support as vital.
“When I first started in the industry, it was still very much a boys’ club. While we see more female leaders today, it has taken strong, secure men in leadership positions to recognize that women deserve to be there too.”
Livingston has driven WOCF’s technological progress, implementing Collateral Services Inc. (CSI) to streamline financial data processing. She developed White Oak’s data warehouse, integrated multiple systems for analysis and led the adoption of the AI-based SAS platform Numerated to automate financial spreading.
Looking ahead, she sees Excel logic as a must-have skill for future leaders. As Microsoft platforms evolve, understanding ineligibility criteria and key financial calculations will be essential. Her advice: “Get into the weeds. Instead of asking, ‘Why am I doing this?’ ask, ‘How can I use this opportunity to expand my knowledge?’”
Livingston hopes to see her tech initiatives become best practices and ultimately aims to step into a chief operations officer role.
