Kunal Merchant

Kunal is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Lotus Advisory, a consulting firm based in San Francisco that advises leaders pursuing change at the intersection of business, government and community. He specializes in cross-sector collaborations, having advised over $8B in public-private partnerships nationwide. Within Lotus’ sports practice, Kunal advises NBA, NFL, MLB, MLS, and NHL initiatives on strategy, management, public policy, and communications. Kunal’s sustainability projects have included the Oakland Athletics’ environmental justice initiative for their proposed new ballpark; the LEED Platinum certified Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento; and the proposed Sacramento Republic FC Major League Soccer stadium, which will anchor the $5B transit-oriented revitalization of Sacramento’s downtown Railyards district. Recently, Kunal also launched CalOZ, a new nonprofit trade group in California that will seek to promote green and clean tech investments in California utilizing the new federal opportunity zone incentive program. Prior to Lotus, Kunal was a Vice President with the Sacramento Kings, Mayor’s Chief of Staff for the City of Sacramento, management consultant, and social entrepreneur. He earned his B.A. in Economics and M.B.A from Harvard University. Kunal has served on the Green Sports Alliance Board of Directors since 2018.