Christine Kretz is the founder of Karman Line Consulting, LLC. In this role she collaborates with academic, industry and small business partners pursuing commercial opportunities in the space industry. Formerly the Vice President of Programs and Partnerships for the International Space Station (ISS) US National Laboratory she helped to identify opportunities for leveraging the facilities of the ISS to enable science and technology research that will benefit life on Earth. Prior to joining the ISS, Christine worked for IBM, starting in 1998 as a manager in the Research Division where her responsibilities included IT security for eight labs globally. From the Research Division, Christine took a corporate position and was named the Global Operations Manager for IBM Life Sciences, an emerging business area for IBM at that time. Christine has also held the position of Healthcare Solutions Executive on the IBM Global Healthcare Industry team, as well as roles as a Client Executive and Complex Opportunity Manager in Healthcare / Life Sciences. Most recently, she managed the Research Division Healthcare and Life Sciences organization.
Christine holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA in Operations from Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh where she is a member of the Business School Alumni Board of Directors.