Derek Ozkal is a senior program officer in Entrepreneurship for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where he assists with writing and analysis of various Research & Policy initiatives and administers grants, which includes managing and overseeing assigned grant portfolios, monitoring grantee performance, and reviewing grant proposals.

Prior to joining the Kauffman Foundation, Ozkal was the research director for the Kansas City Business Journal, where his duties included survey design, data gathering and analysis in support of weekly lists of local industries and topics, writing articles on local economic topics, and various research tasks in support of editorial content.

Ozkal earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Truman State University and is a cast member of the KC Improv Company.