Krista Spada, senior vice president of originations at Key Equipment Finance, is a people leader first. She is well-known at Key Equipment Finance as a leader that listens to her employees’ concerns, ideas and suggestions. Spada ensures that processes and procedures are developed and implemented to ensure every member of her team is getting all they need to provide a great client experience.

Spada began her Key Equipment Finance career in 1992. During her 30-year tenure, she has held multiple roles within originations, supporting Key Equipment Finance’s growth as well as participating in numerous projects that allowed her to widen her skill set, including a lead role in the successful acquisition of First Niagara. As the senior vice president of originations, Spada is responsible for all originations workflow

In 2016, Spada was selected to be the business leader involved in replacing Key Equipment Finance’s entire legacy front-end technology with Salesforce and nCino. During this four-year period, she collaborated with various leaders and teams, including those in other areas of KeyBank that had imple mented some elements of nCino, to meet the unique needs of Key Equipment Finance’s business while staying true to its enterprise strategy. The greatest challenge Spada was up against was managing and implementing a massive change across multiple stakeholders in the organization. However, by actively listening, making tough decisions and staying adaptable, Spada ensured the entire process flowed smoothly and successfully, In 2020, she received the KeyBank Chairman’s Circle of Excellence Award for Innovation for her efforts before earning a promotion to her current role in the spring of 2021.

“Coming away from a significant technology project in which she was heavily involved, Krista transitioned into a senior leadership role, managing a very large span of operational staff that process a voluminous and diverse portfolio,” Adam Warner, president of Key Equipment Finance, says. “She does an incredible job partnering with the business and our clients in managing fraud and operational risk.”

Spada’s team respects her focus and effectiveness at striking a good balance between strategic thinking and tactical experience. She can balance client needs with risk management in a very high-volume risk environment and has been highly effective in staying in front of trends and understanding how they impact the business, She focuses on creating a quality service platform that offers clients the best possible experience while maintaining Key’s risk position.

“My advice to women looking to make an impact in our industry is to be curious, be approachable, be engaged, ask questions, build relationships because that’s how you gain knowledge,” Spada says, “What you do with that knowledge and those relationships can help direct you to the next milestone in your career.”