Join us in celebrating Keizai Silicon Valley’s 2023 Shinnenkai (New Year’s Reception) on Friday, January 27, at the Palo Alto Hills Golf and Country Club.
This year Mr. David Kaval, the President of the Oakland Athletics, will receive the Keizai Silicon Valley Distinguished Achievement Award.
Mr. Kaval has been building bridges and balancing local interest and global reach in pro sports throughout his career. Right after getting his MBA from Stanford, he founded the Global Baseball League, whose goal was to restore the closeness of local baseball for the fans on an international scale. The independent GBL had teams from Japan and Mexico as well as across the western US and Canada. Mr. Kaval then spent six years as president of the San Jose Earthquakes, and in 2016 he became the seventh president in history of the Oakland Athletics Major League Baseball team.
Aside from giving the keynote speech, Mr. Kaval will participate in a fireside chat with Professor Richard Dasher, discussing how U.S.-Japan baseball talent flow will be like, among other topics.
We will also be performing our traditional kagamiwari (sake-barrel “breaking”) ceremony. The Consul General of Japan in San Francisco, Mr. Noguchi Yasushi, is expected to lead this tradition.
On Nov. 17, 2016, David Kaval was named the seventh president in the history of the Oakland Athletics.
As one of the most dynamic leaders currently in sports, Kaval has led a complete transformation of the organization. He has repositioned the internal and external perception of the Club and has driven a number of innovative initiatives to propel the business forward.
In his five seasons as president, Kaval has enhanced the fan experience by making upgrades to the Oakland Coliseum, introduced a forward-thinking season ticket program, hosted MLB’s first completely free game, and welcomed the largest crowd in Oakland Coliseum history when 56,310 fans attended the game versus the San Francisco Giants on July 21, 2018. He has implemented a number of initiatives to connect with fans and community stakeholders, including hosting weekly office hours, participating in town hall meetings, and communicating via Twitter and Instagram at @DaveKaval.
In addition to delivering the best baseball experience for the Club’s fans, Kaval is committed to increasing the organization’s community impact. During the 2020 season, the Club focused on five main community initiatives: COVID-19 relief, social justice, building community, education, and youth baseball and softball. The team donated more than $2.6 million back to the community, including $1.62 million for COVID-19 relief efforts.
In February 2021, under Kaval’s leadership, the A’s partnered with the White House and the State of California to open the first federally operated vaccination center in the country at the Oakland Coliseum.
Kaval is leading the Club’s efforts to open a new waterfront ballpark in Oakland. He has made it a priority to engage the community to ensure the ballpark project is bigger than baseball. The A’s have hosted hundreds of community meetings and workshops since 2018, giving residents a voice to share their perspectives and insights on how the ballpark can benefit and provide opportunities in Oakland. He is also leading the A’s plans to redevelop the current Coliseum site. In 2020, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors sold the County’s 50% interest of the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Complex to the A’s.
Kaval previously served as the president of the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer. He oversaw the business and soccer sides of the franchise and represented the club on the Major League Soccer Board of Governors. He continues to serve as a Board Member of the San Jose Earthquakes.
Prior to joining the Earthquakes, Kaval founded the independent Golden Baseball League (GBL) in 2003. Memorable GBL alumni include Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, Jose Canseco, Daniel Nava, Jose Lima, and Mark Prior. Kaval has also spent time in the Office of the President of the United States in Washington, D.C., where he worked on the National Security budget as part of the Office of Management and Budget.
In 2000, Kaval co-authored a book entitled “The Summer that Saved Baseball,” which highlights a tour of all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums in the summer of 1998. He is also a lecturer in management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) where he teaches sports management.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Kaval earned a B.A. with honors in International Relations and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. He is a long-time resident of Menlo Park and lives there with his wife and two daughters.
Friday, January 27, 2023
Dress code: Business casual. A buffet dinner will be served.
