Daniel Kowalski

Mr. Kowalski is the owner of Wizard of OZ, a bespoke consultancy focused on helping companies utilize Opportunity Zones to grow their businesses while helping the surrounding community to grow and thrive. Previously, Mr. Kowalski was Counselor to the Secretary at the U.S. Treasury Department from 2017 until January of 2021. Mr. Kowalski was the Treasury official responsible for policy development of the regulations, forms, and instructions required to implement Opportunity Zones. He worked with Treasury and IRS staff as well as public- and private-sector stakeholders to provide as much flexibility for the use of the incentive consistent with the four corners of the statute. Mr. Kowalski has been a featured speaker at over 70 Opportunity Zone events in 30 cities in 20 states and Puerto Rico. He was named a “Top 25 OZ Influencer” in both 2019 and 2020 by Opportunity Zone Magazine. He is also a recipient of the Alexander Hamilton Award, the highest Treasury honor for employees whose performance and leadership demonstrate the highest standards of dedication to public service and the Treasury Department. Prior to Treasury, Mr. Kowalski was Deputy Staff Director of the Senate Budget Committee. He also served as the Director of Budget Review for the House Budget Committee. He started in Washington with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) as a Principal Analyst in the unit responsible for preparing CBO’s baseline budget projections. In state government, Mr. Kowalski worked as Director of the Legislative Budget Office for the Missouri General Assembly, and as the senior individual income tax analyst with the Finance Committee for the New York State Senate. He started his career as a management analyst for the Deputy Commissioner for Audit in the New York City Department of Finance. Mr. Kowalski holds a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School and a Bachelor of Arts from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland.