Krista Mallory moved to the Central Okanagan from Calgary to finish her economics degree in the early days of UBCO.
While she was in school and following graduation, she worked at Odlum Brown Limited, moving from reception to licensed investment assistant to investment broker over five years. While she enjoyed the work, she realized that it wasn’t for her long-term so she joined the Women’s Enterprise Centre (now WeBC) as a business advisor and loan officer in 2012 as a way to support women entrepreneurs.
Having grown up in an entrepreneurial family, it was (and remains) deeply important to her to support the unique needs of the entrepreneurs who create jobs and solve problems in the community.
In 2016, she followed the opportunity to join the Regional District of Central Okanagan’s Economic Development Commission (COEDC) as a business development officer, allowing her to be part of the growth and diversification of the Central Okanagan.
In January 2020, she took on the role of manager of the COEDC team.
Krista leads of team of four highly skilled full-time staff and two specialized contractors.
She also serves in a leadership role as vice-chair of Community Futures Central Okanagan and sits on a variety of boards and committees including the Okanagan College Regional Advisory Committee, e@UBCO Advisory Committee, and YLW Air Route Task Force.
She previously served as a board director with West Kelowna Minor Hockey.
Through her role with the COEDC, she regularly advocates for the Central Okanagan to government and provides input on regional issues.
She also volunteers as a vice-chair of Community Futures, and serves on the Community Futures Loan Committee supporting entrepreneurs and contributing to funding decisions.
In her personal life, she is a strong supporter of minor hockey through her involvement with minor hockey, and as a volunteer manager of her children’s teams. She has organized multiple ways for the teams to give back to the community and learn about volunteerism, including a hot dog drive by her son’s team, The West Kelowna Flaming Hotdogs (that’s what happens when 8-year olds name the team…) that provided a full-meal-deal hot dog lunch to over 50 families in need in partnership with Mamas For Mamas.
She is the recipient of the Lenore Hewlett Award for Volunteer of the Year, WKMHA 2019 Community Futures Volunteer of the Year Award, and 2019 International and National project awards for COEDC work.
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