There’s just something to be said about a girl who found numbers fascinating during elementary school classes.
And while Christina Kraft, market president of the Bank of Colorado Estes Park, says she didn’t start out envisioning a career in banking, she does admit to having some affinity for working with numbers. Her familial heritage includes a grandfather who was a banker in Nebraska during the 1930s Depression era and a mother who was a certified public accountant.
While her grandfather’s experiences were passed down by her grandmother, her mother’s influence was much more hands-on.
“As good CPAs, do they train their children to keep good care of money. My mom did a great job,” Kraft said.
While Kraft toyed with the concept of attending medical school, the idea just didn’t stick. Between high school and college at the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business, she worked as a teller at a bank in Loveland.
The rest, they say, is history.
“I really enjoyed the mix of people and money. I found it very fascinating and really learned a lot from the person who was in my role, where my role is now, and other people,” Kraft said. “I really like working with people, and I have an aptitude for numbers and putting things together. So I think it was a good fit for my skill set.”
Her first big banking job was in Dillingham, Alaska, a tiny fishing port on the coast with a population of about 4,900, accessible only by air, where she spent seven years with the First National Bank of Alaska. The air travel came rather second-nature as she’d visited her father there, who was an Alaskan bush pilot.
“Not many people get to fly around as a child in small planes in Alaska,” Kraft recalled of her early years. Later, when her sister also lived in Alaska on Kodiak Island, Kraft spent time with her there during her college years.
She arrived in Estes Park in 2013 just as the community was reeling from the effects of flooding that hit the area.
“It was, in hindsight, a really great time to come into a new community, because I got to know a lot of people at a very raw level, at least in the role of being a banker. I had the opportunity to help a lot of people through a really hard time. You know, of course, after the flood, it was very uncertain for a period of time, and then 2014 was really a great year, but working with our community through that challenging time really accelerated the speed of trust and my ability to get to know people,” Kraft said.
Kraft received the 2025 Bank of Colorado Banker of Distinction Award in February and the Economic Development Innovation and Excellence Award from the Economic Development Council of Colorado in November.
Not only did Kraft get her start in bank leadership in Alaska, but she also began contributing to community causes there. In her early 20s, she was tapped to serve as a board member on the Fairbanks Destination and Marketing Organization.
“I served on that board for the community, which was also, in part, a tourist destination, military tourism, very seasonal economy with oil and gas in Alaska. This is a different economy, but you know, certainly a lot of things I learned prepared me to be here. I didn’t know it at the time,” Kraft said.
The 11 years Kraft has been in Estes Park attest to her community involvement and success.
On Dec. 1, she was named to the newly formed UCHealth Estes Valley Medical Center Board of Directors. Recently, she was recognized for her work as chair of the Economic Development and Workforce Council in Estes Park, but the accolades extend much further. A glance at the bookshelves in her office offers a clue.
There are plaques from prestigious organizations serving diverse Estes Park organizations. She’s been a member of the Rocky Mountain Conservancy since 2019 and served as treasurer of the group from 2020 to 2023. She also served on the Estes Valley Investment in Childhood Services Board for more than 10 years.
With all the professional and community activity, Kraft hasn’t lost sight of what’s most important in her life: her family.
While she shields conversation about them, Kraft is clear that her husband and three daughters, ages five, seven, and 11, are top priorities. The pictures scattered about the office attest to the fact.