Krista Patterson is the CEO and Co-Founder of Positioning Collective, a women-owned brand and positioning consultancy based in Los Gatos, California. She helps founders, leaders, and organizations clarify what makes them different and turn that clarity into growth.

Krista calls herself an accidental entrepreneur. She launched Positioning Collective in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, with her business partner and friend of more than 20 years, Alex Crawford. Her reason was simple: she wanted to choose the people she worked with. That instinct still guides the firm today.

Before starting her own company, Krista spent more than 20 years in brand, marketing, and communications leadership. She held senior roles at Cisco, ServiceNow, VMware, and Dayforce. Her client work ranges from teams of fewer than ten to Fortune 500 companies, including Cisco, Oracle, GitHub, Precor, and Datrium. Positioning Collective grew revenue 70% from 2024 to 2025.

Her belief is clear. Brand is not what an organization says. It’s what people experience over time. She sees clarity as one of the most undervalued leadership skills, and confidence as alignment, not volume.

Krista holds an M.A. in Communication Management from USC and a B.A. in Public Relations from Chico State. She has served as an adjunct professor at San Jose State and a guest lecturer at UC Berkeley and SF State. She’s a mom of three and a lifelong question-asker, and she leads with humor, almost always.