Dave Kaval
In 2016, Kaval took over as President of the Oakland Athletics, with his primary focus on trying to find a new stadium site for the team.
As President of the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer (MLS), David Kaval oversees the business and technical sides of the franchise. He has led a transformation of the organization both on and off the pitch, elevating the stature and awareness of the club.
Kaval created the yearly tradition of playing a Quakes match at Stanford Stadium, which has become one of the biggest sporting events of the summer in the Bay Area, drawing over 41,000 fans at the 2011 match against the New York Red Bull and a record crowd of 50,351 in 2012 with the derby against the LA Galaxy
Kaval also has led the Quakes’ efforts to design, develop, and privately finance a new 18,000 seat soccer-specific stadium in San Jose that will open in 2014. The groundbreaking on October 21, 2012 set a Guinness Record as 6,256 people turned dirt for two minutes in the largest participatory groundbreaking ever.
In an effort to improve communication with fans and community stakeholders, Kaval launched a weekly blog on SJEarthquakes.com, started a twitter feed at @QuakesPrez as well as initiated weekly office hours.
Additionally, Kaval unveiled plans for improvements to the atmosphere at Buck Shaw Stadium including: a new concessionaire, Yorder in-seat ordering, a revamped Epicenter Fan Zone, a new VIP Section, a new team store, in-stadium historic murals, the addition of the George Best Gate and VIP restrooms. The Quakes also have become the epicenter for the Gourmet Food truck movement with 8-10 trucks at each match from a variety of local partners.
Known as an innovator throughout his career, Kaval spearheaded new efforts to grow the Quakes social media efforts including partnerships with Experience ticketing as well as an alpha partner with Facebook Deals.
On the corporate sponsorship side, Kaval has overseen an MLS-best 50-percent increase in corporate partnership revenue with companies such as 7UP Bottling Company, Wells Fargo, Kaiser Permanente, State Farm Insurance, Benjamin Moore Paints, and VISA, along with helping renewals for KFC and SuperCuts, among others.
Prior to joining the Earthquakes, Kaval founded the Golden Baseball League (GBL) in 2003 with fellow Stanford Business School graduate Amit Patel. Kaval was responsible for raising the initial capital to launch the league, launching the charter teams, and building an entire League from scratch. He also negotiated a number of major corporate partnerships, including the multi-million dollar league naming rights agreement with Safeway. Kaval also served as the President of the Yuma Scorpions, Long Beach Armada, and Chico Outlaws teams, as well as the Arizona Winter League. Some of the memorable GBL alumni include hall of famer Rickey Henderson, Jose Canseco, Jose Lima, and Mark Prior.
Kaval has also spent time in the Office of the President of the United States in Washington DC on the budget for National Security as part of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). He lecturers in a variety of programs at Stanford University including the Graduate School of Business and is a Director of the Workforce Investment Board in San Mateo County.
Kaval is a Board Member of the San Jose Sports Authority and the San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of San Jose Rotary and the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).
In 2000, Kaval co-authored a book titled “The Summer that Saved Baseball,” which highlighted a tour of all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums in the summer of 1998. A native of Cleveland, Kaval earned a B.A. in 1998 with honors in International Relations and an M.B.A. in 2003 from Stanford University. He is a long time resident of Menlo Park and lives there with his wife and two daughters.