Real Assets Adviser: Former Sacramento Kings Executive Starts Opportunity Zone Firm

BY ANDREA ZANDER

Kunal Merchant, a former Sacramento Kings executive and aide to former Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, has plans to launch CalOZ, a new group dedicated to navigating the complicated framework around opportunity zones.

“Our state must embrace new strategies to rebuild an upward economy that works for all Californians,” said Merchant, president and co-founder of CalOZ. “Opportunity zones offer an important new tool, not only to promote economic mobility and the green economy in areas of our state that need it most, but also to re-evaluate and re-imagine how business, government and community work together to foster a more competitive, equitable and sustainable economy in California.”

CalOZ’s first priority will be CalOZ for All, an initiative to promote adoption of high-impact state policies regarding opportunity zones, economic mobility and sustainable growth more broadly. Joining CalOZ will be a range of strategic partners with deep expertise in economic development, public policy, community development, green innovation, and impact investing, including California Forward, the California Business Roundtable, Central Valley Community Foundation, Bay Area Council, Sacramento Promise Zone, RevOZ Capital, Amalgamated Bank, the Governance Project, Fuse Corps, Accelerator for America, and Nationswell.

CalOZ will also focus on building infrastructure and capacity at the local level to support the growth of the nascent opportunity zone marketplace, including a potential OZ Fellowship program developed in collaboration with Accelerator for America and FUSE Corps to recruit, train and deploy talented professionals within opportunity zone communities to facilitate investments that build wealth, economic mobility and the green economy.

CalOZ was co-founded by Merchant, managing director of Lotus Advisory, and David Smith, CEO of X Sector Labs. ​

Read the full article here.