Kimberly Jones Merchant is the principal of Kimberly Jones Merchant, P.A., and currently serving as City Attorney for Indianola and Greenville, Mississippi, as well as Board Counsel for the Hollandale School District. Through her consulting practice, KEA Collaborative, she offers specialized training and consulting services to legal aid and public interest organizations, with a strong focus on race equity in both internal operations and external advocacy. Merchant has been a featured speaker on race equity and justice at numerous national conferences and events, and she provides consulting and training services to legal aid and public interest organizations across the country.  She is the former Senior Director of Advocate Resources and Training and first ever Director of the Racial Justice Institute (RJI) and Network at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, where she provided strategic oversight for the growth and expansion of the annual Racial Justice Institute and its alumni advocacy network. Prior to joining the Shriver Center, Kimberly led Educational Opportunities Campaign and served as Managing Attorney for the Delta Office of the Mississippi Center for justice.  

With twenty-seven (27) years of legal experience, Merchant is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi (B.S. in English) and the University of Mississippi School Law (J.D.). She is a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Fellow and holds a number of leadership roles in her local community, the state of Mississippi, and nationally, serving on the boards of the ACLU of Mississippi, and the Mississippi Center for Justice, and as a member of the Equity Advisory Council for Justice in Aging. In addition to her professional roles, Merchant co-hosts a quarterly Pro Se Clinic in partnership with the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project and the Washington County Chancery Court, providing crucial legal assistance to her local community.

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