Krista Skalde

Worth knowing

She advises founders on the hardest people decisions a growing company faces: who to hire into the executive team, how to structure an organization as it scales, and how to develop leaders already inside it. She has done this across North America, Brazil, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, China and the UAE, including a real estate team of 27 people holding 15 citizenships.

Story

Krista studied at Laurentian University in Sudbury before moving to Paris for a master's in political science, writing on independence movements in Québec, Corsica and the Basque Country. She stayed in France to work, then moved to Abu Dhabi, where she led talent and HR across the venture capital, private equity, real estate, infrastructure and hedge fund units of a sovereign wealth fund. In July 2021 she joined Inovia Capital and returned to Toronto. She now sets talent strategy for the firm and works directly with its leadership and portfolio founders, and speaks on people and hiring at Réseau Capital and SAAS North.

Highlights

• Partner and Chief Talent Officer, Inovia Capital (2021-present)
• Led Talent and HR across all asset classes at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority
• D.E.A./M.A., Political Science, Université de Paris (1996)
• President's Award for Excellence, Laurentian University (1994)
• Speaker, VC Platform Global Summit 2025