Meet Kristine

Kristine Martin Anderson is Booz Allen’s chief operating officer. A member of the firm’s leadership team, she accelerates firmwide operational performance and the transformation of the company’s business model, in collaboration with leaders from across the firm. 

Kristine has been a leader at Booz Allen for more than 16 years. Previously, she led the firm’s civil and health businesses. She is recognized as a thought leader for her expertise in health information technology (HIT), HIT-enabled quality measurement and improvement, payment reform, health data exchange, and interoperability.

Prior to joining Booz Allen, she was vice president for operations and strategy at CareScience, a software solutions company that she helped launch in 1992 and take public in 2000. There Kristine oversaw the launch of several innovative products, including the nation’s first web-based clinical decision support system for hospitals and the nation’s first health information exchange.

Kristine serves on the board of directors for Executives for Health Innovation (formerly eHealth Initiative). She also serves on the Cost and Resource Use Standing Committee as well as the Appeals Board of the National Quality Forum.

Kristine is a frequent speaker and has authored several published articles. She holds a B.A. in neurobiology from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business.

Where do you see Booz Allen in 100 years? Designing safety systems for flying cars, running managed services for functions common across government, setting up settlements in space. Really, I think Booz Allen is all about helping solve the major problems of the times. One hundred years ago, I’m sure we couldn’t have imagined what we’d be working on today; I think we’ll still be focused on the next big opportunity, whatever that may be. 

What about your job keeps you awake at night? Letting a client down. Expecting to be on top of your game and deliver excellent work every day is a heavy bag to carry. Though it’s absolutely a privilege to solve our clients’ problems, you always have to be conscious of not meeting expectations or having a client demand something you aren’t thinking about.

What are three tips for managing and motivating your people? You have to genuinely care about them, and they have to know that. Listen to them, know who they are as people, not just employees. You also have to give them work that they care about. That plays into the recruitment part. Make sure you’re bringing on people who understand what the job is—not every nurse or pharmacist wants to be a management consultant. Last but not least, there has to be some element of fun. No one wants to just grind through the day.

What’s the best business advice you’ve heard? At a Wharton business healthcare conference, Andrea Jung, a prominent female CEO, told a story about how she got caught on a Board of Directors’ call during her son’s birthday party. The gist was she felt as though she disappointed both her son for taking the work call, as well as the board because of all the noise. I took away the following advice: “Don’t disappoint people accidentally. Decide who you are going to disappoint that day, tell them, then release yourself of guilt. And don’t disappoint the same people all the time. We all can’t always do what’s being asked of us, and if we try it will make us crazy.” As a mother, that really resonates with me.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received? Be authentic. It’s too much work trying to be someone you’re not.