Namita Nandakumar
Director, Research & Development

Director, Research & Development
First professional job in 2018 with the hometown NFL Philadelphia Eagles. Made a name as an undergraduate at Penn's Wharton School of Business, presenting a 2017 original research paper at the Vancouver Hockey Analytics Conference (VanHAC) on what it means to "draft perfectly in the NHL." Comparing NFL and NHL drafts says both are "conducive to finding value late." Before joining Kraken in early 2020, I regularly contributed to The Athletic and Hockey Graphs and presented papers at institutions such as MIT and Carnegie Mellon.
She fell in love with hockey, rooting for the Flyers during the 2010 Cup Final. As a high schooler, the books "Moneyball" and "Soccernomics" planted the seeds for her career path. Shared No. 22 spot with Kraken pro scout Cammi Granato in Sportsnet's 2021 ranking of "25 Most Powerful Women in Hockey."