Get to Know Kristal Kaye, Interim CEO of CarbonCure

Since taking the helm in June as our interim CEO, Kristal Kaye is guiding CarbonCure Technologies into a new chapter. She has directed CarbonCure's global team to lock in and build upon on our successes to date: accelerating our scale across regions, growing our production of lower carbon concrete, and creating even greater value for our customers through improved cement efficiency and new revenue from CarbonCure carbon credits. Together, we continue to achieve major milestones. This includes more than 9.5 million truckloads of CarbonCure concrete, nearly 670,000 metric tons of CO₂ saved and more than $7 million of shared carbon credit revenue.

Now three months since she stepped into this role, we recently sat down with Kristal to capture more about her leadership style and career before CarbonCure, her top priorities for the company during this transition and her vision for what's ahead.

What’s your superpower?

If I had to pick, maybe x-ray vision, because I can see right through B.S. [laughs] Kidding aside, I’d say being a straight shooter is my super power. I’ve always been laser-focused on results and cutting through the noise and any nonsense.

I’ve worn many different hats in multiple industries over the past two decades, leading change management, optimizing operations and conducting long-range planning to help organizations grow. Throughout my career, I’ve always oriented my leadership toward the bottom line: for companies, for customers, for shareholders. 

In 2024, I joined CarbonCure as Chief Financial Officer. Now, stepping in as CEO, I often apply that CFO lens as we continue CarbonCure’s transformation from a startup to a buildout company. That means fostering a customer-obsessed business that consistently delivers value to our industry partners, continually enhancing our innovation, demanding efficiency and excellence in our operations, and growing our presence in the voluntary carbon market. 

Still working on developing actual x-ray vision—until then, coffee helps.

Why did you join CarbonCure?

I was inspired by my children. I wanted to do work that makes a difference in the world and build a better future for them. I hear this from CarbonCure’s customers, too. Concrete producers, and their employees, care about leaving a legacy for their families and being leaders in the industry and their communities.

It’s not just that CarbonCure’s technologies reduce the carbon footprint of concrete. I love that the economic benefits we deliver have encouraged industry adoption around the world. That financial aspect is a key driver for the nearly 10 million truckloads of CarbonCure concrete produced so far. 

I’m proud to come to work every day, and my kids are excited that I’m working for a company that can make the world a better place. They are a daily reminder why this work matters so much.

That said, they don’t take me too seriously. When they heard I recently did a podcast interview, they were baffled that anyone would want to hear their mom talk for 30 minutes. [laughs] 

Beyond teenagers who like to keep me humble, every day, I get to work alongside a team of incredibly talented colleagues who share a deep sense of purpose and an urgency to innovate for the planet’s future. It’s rewarding to know our work is not only good for the environment but also makes business sense for our customers, ensuring real, meaningful impact.

You’ve been in this interim CEO role for about three months. What are your top priorities for the company?

I’d say I have three main priorities, especially as we focus on scaling our tech and entering new markets.

My top priority is ensuring customer success and value. I’m committed to making sure every CarbonCure producer partner experiences measurable economic benefits from working with our technologies and our team. Customer success is customer service.

Second, I want to drive sustainable growth. That means expanding to new customers and new markets where we can ensure such customer success and scale quickly with low or no market challenges or operational barriers. To sustain our mission and support long-term growth, CarbonCure must be agile and resilient. That requires a lot of straight talk and even more strategic discipline.

Finally, and importantly, I demand results and expect operational excellence across our teams. Executing with efficiency and accountability maximizing impact. My approach is to lead with urgency, shift performance from good to great, and take action if we ever come up short.

We asked you what your superpower is. What’s CarbonCure’s superpower?

CarbonCure’s superpower is definitely the economic benefit of our technologies. By leveraging the chemistry of carbon mineralization in CarbonCure concrete, less cement means less material costs for manufacturers. More emissions reduced also means more high value carbon credits generated. To ensure an ROI and incentivize faster adoption, we then share our credit revenue with CarbonCure’s producer partners. This business model is designed and proven to deliver win-win results.

How quickly do you see CarbonCure scaling?

Solutions scale fastest when the financials work: Either innovation creates real value or the status quo comes at a cost. That economic benefit is not a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have. If the numbers add up, so does the impact.

The concrete industry operates on razor-thin margins. Just as we don’t expect homeowners to pay a premium for solar energy and we don’t shame drivers who can’t afford an EV, we can’t burden these small- and medium-sized concrete businesses, or their workers, with sustainability costs they can’t afford. Instead, our approach is to ensure sustainability means improved profitability.

What are you most excited to achieve?

Concrete is everywhere. It's used to build homes, roadways, runways, high-rises, hospitals, schools and data centers. There are more than 100,000 concrete plants around the globe, and today, our drop-in hardware is deployed in hundreds of those plants. That's an impressive reach but it's a drop in the bucket. There's a tremendous opportunity for us to grow and expand our impact. I’m incredibly excited to steer our company’s global deployment.

Last question: Flames or Oilers?

Flames, all the way! I was cheering for the Oilers during their run. I'd love to see a Canadian team bring back the Cup, but you’ve got to be loyal to your team.