The Roster: Vol. 23

At Credera, we believe we’re truly better together. The Roster is a monthly series that allows you to get to know leaders at all levels across the firm.

Cristina Niver

SENIOR MANAGER, MANAGEMENT CONSULTING

Dallas, TX

Favorite Book: Chronicles of Narnia, I’ve read the series twice and am about to start it again with my three-year-old, Carla. My close second favorite is To Kill A Mockingbird where I first remember learning how to be brave and how far kindness could go.

Passions Outside of Work: I love spending time with my family. Nick, my husband, is my best friend, and even though being a parent to two very young kids can be hard, it’s incredible to watch them grow and explore the world.

Podcast Playlist: Stuff You Missed in History Class is by far one of my most favorite podcasts. It’s been fun to learn about events and people that were never mentioned in history classes as a kid.

Personal Goals: The most important personal goal I have is to raise confident and brave girls who truly believe they can accomplish anything they set their minds to do.

Mentorship Experience: From my very first interaction with Credera at a breakfast interview, I’ve been immensely thankful for Andrew Warden’s mentorship and guidance. At my previous firm, I felt like a number and lost in the shuffle, and I’ve never felt that at Credera. Andrew and a few others have invested in me and helped me see my potential – I am so grateful.

Client Experience Highlight: My second project with Credera was my most memorable because of the incredible team I worked with – it was the beginning of several close friendships at Credera. I loved working in our windowless and very cold room with them because there was never a dull moment, and we were constantly learning from our client and our team.

Mason Everett

SENIOR CONSULTANT, OPEN TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

New York City, NY

Favorite App: I am a big fan of LastPass, and I would highly recommend it or any other password manager to anyone that is still trying to remember all their passwords, or worse, writing them down on sticky notes stuck to their laptop. On top of knowing that my accounts are more secure, I have a centralized list of all my accounts, so it is easy for me to know who has information about me, where I need to update addresses and payment information, and what services I use (and which ones I can cancel).

Life Hack: Don’t go to your superiors with problems; go with potential solutions. It gives them a head start in solving the problem and shows that you have the initiative and knowledge to figure things out yourself.

Favorite Book: I don’t think I could pick a favorite book, but I recently finished a great book called The Marshmallow Test by Walter Mischel, which is a collection of stories about Mischel’s career studying self-control and will power. I love learning about social science and human behavior, so Mischel’s work on defining techniques for improving impulse control was fascinating to me.

Favorite Sports Team: I’m going to cheat and mention two teams here: Kansas men’s basketball and the St. Louis Cardinals. Following the Jayhawks is a big way that I stay connected with my mom and my brother. Our group chat for the three of us is named “Jayhawk Talk”. Two years ago, I married into Cardinals fandom (it was in my vows). I was never a baseball fan before, so it’s been a lot of fun learning about the sport and the team, and like Kansas basketball is for my family, Cardinals baseball has been a great way for me to connect with my wife’s family.

Favorite Credera Memory: Although I prefer not to travel a lot for work, I’ve found that some of the best experiences with my coworkers have been on business trips because we have the opportunity to spend time together outside the office. One memory that stands out in particular included a team dinner followed by about 5 or 6 of us meeting up to play cards late into the night. We played one game the entire time that required making up your own rule whenever you won a round. It was a lot of fun to see people get creative, get outside of their comfort zones, and just have a good time.

How You’ve Seen the Core Values Lived Out at Credera: In my experience, Credera leaders have consistently shown great humility by protecting their people and emphasizing that we succeed and we fail as a team. Everyone makes mistakes, and the fear of failure and shame can be detrimental to your confidence and your career, so knowing that your mentors and leaders have your back when you win or lose is very empowering.

Maina Musa

SENIOR CONSULTANT, ANALYTICS AND BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

Dallas, TX

Favorite App: For the last several years I’ve been using Spotify for podcasts. I love always being able to find some new tidbit of information to learn or interesting story to connect to.

Life Hack: Rank the 5 goals or areas of your life you care most about. Occasionally check to make sure the bulk of your finances are going towards those things. You’ll feel more empowered when you’re positive you are spending on the things that matter most.

Favorite Tech Tool: Excel. Some people wrestle gators, some people charm snakes, I find it weirdly fun to wrangle a spreadsheet into doing what you want. Budgeting or other financial forecasting via Excel is an odd occasional pastime of mine.

Favorite Book: Far too many great reads to get into here but I’ll highlight a couple. Catch-22 because it is simultaneously hilarious thought-provoking. And the Harry Potter series since those books are the most incredibly crafted world I’ve ever peered into and J.K. Rowling teaches us to anticipate hidden magic around every corner. This is an important thing to remember even in the muggle world.

Passions Outside of Work: Education and mentorship. I come from a family of educators and people involved with education. I love learning more about how education can improve lives. And mentorship is invaluable. If you’ve been given a lot (as I have) then you should pay it forward by at least helping build up someone else.

Favorite Credera Memory: I joined Credera in the summer of last year and was still adjusting to a new group of people and new city when autumn rolled around. The holiday season started off great with a very memorable Friendsgiving outing where we got to enjoy fine company, food created by each other, and ended up dancing late into the night. I knew I’d found some people I could call good friends. Then the Christmas party happened. Once the dance floor opened up and we’d been out having a good time for a while I looked up and noticed something about the group immediately around me. The Analytics and Business Intelligence crew was absolutely owning the dance floor and I couldn’t have been happier that my fellow data nerds also loved to break it down when the music is right.

Best Advice You’ve Ever Been Given: The impact my mom has had on my life cannot be overstated or overvalued. I am who I am today chiefly because of her. And arguably the most important idea she’s imparted to me is the phrase “play hard, play to win” that we’ve been saying to each other for as long as I can remember. It started with youth football games and math competitions, but continues to this day. The humble beauty of the statement is that while it fully speaks to my competitive nature and desire to excel (playing to win), it starts with simply giving your all and doing your best (playing hard). This phrase applies to situations both modest and vast, easy and difficult. I live by these words of hers and I carry them with me into boardrooms, onto rec sand volleyball courts, and into Northwest Community Center to teach immigrant kids computer science.

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