Meet Cristina Leija

Elizabeth A. Thomson Correspondent

Developing millimeter wave drilling to bring geothermal energy worldwide involves many moving parts, and Cristina Leija is familiar with them all. As our project and supply chain planner, she is the behind-the-scenes coordinator of everything from work schedules to the tracking and monitoring of key equipment.

 “I love working closely with the project managers,” she says, to get a birds-eye view of the entire production and facilitate progress through that knowledge. “It’s definitely fulfilling to sit with them and give them updates on where things stand; all of the projects impact each other.”

To that end, Leija built a Project Schedule platform where everything’s in one place. “It’s pretty cool because now I can look at each individual schedule, then put them into an overall  roadmap.”

Leija joined Quaise as the company was about to start drilling in the field. “It was exciting to build a schedule that led to our biggest milestone so far: hitting 100 meters. Now we’re making good progress on our next, which is to go ten times deeper.”

She notes that each milestone comes with new complexities. “It’s really amazing to watch the team bounce back from unexpected challenges then go at it again,” she says. One of her favorite parts of the job is feeling very involved in what the teams are going through because “I write down and document everything that they do.” 

Before coming to Quaise, Leija, who has an undergraduate degree in public relations and communications, worked for many years in vendor management for a large health insurance company. While she was doing well, “I found myself wanting to be a part of something bigger, something that could positively influence the world as a whole.”

She learned about Quaise through her brother-in-law, Marco Quilico, who is a Quaise project manager. Quilico told her about the opening for a planner. And from there, it was “kind of a no-brainer. I took a leap of faith, switched my industry to come to Quaise, and I haven’t looked back.”