Cristina Cismas Florea

Assistant Director, Bronco Ventures

Cristina is the Assistant Director of Bronco Ventures, adjunct faculty, and Fellow on the Santa Clara University Board. She is also involved with venture capital at Santa Clara Ventures, a venture capital fund that invests in Bronco startups, as well as startups from Jesuit and Catholic universities.

Cristina started her career in K - 12 education and has 20 years of experience in that field. She taught high school math and business and implemented innovative programs at various high schools. In 2014, Cristina founded the BEAM Program, an international educational program for high schools where students learn to create their own startups through curriculum developed in partnership with leading firms, such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst&Young, and have access to business internships at companies in the BEAM network. BEAM has thousands of alumni worldwide and has been featured in numerous press articles, including the Nuffic Report in the Netherlands, where it was named one of the best practices in education. Cristina is featured as a Notable Alumni at Santa Clara University for her work with the BEAM Program.

In other experience, Cristina was the Chief Program Officer at Boys and Girls Clubs, a logic guest lecturer at Stanford University, and a seminar speaker at the Wharton School of Business. She has also volunteered her time at numerous organizations, including Saint Andrew’s School, where she served as the Vice President of the Board, and Neighbors Abroad, where she oversaw, advised, and ran education partnerships around the world to promote worldwide learning and collaborations, social justice, citizen diplomacy, and international friendship.

Cristina holds degrees in Mathematics and Marketing, teaching credentials in Mathematics and Business, and Master’s Degree in Education Technology from Santa Clara University, as well as a certificate for teaching business from the Wharton School of Business.