Memphis Grizzlies Charitable Foundation

Foundation Staff

Jenny Turner Koltnow

Jenny directs all Foundation programs, partnerships, marketing and events, and she has facilitated the donation of over $28 million in charitable grants. In addition, Koltnow drives Grizzlies TEAM UP, a community-wide mentoring initiative, inclusive of the Grizzlies Mentoring Alliance and the innovative Grizzlies TEAM Mentoring program. Prior to her current position, Jenny served as the Manager of Community Investment of the Memphis Grizzlies.  A native of Wisconsin, Koltnow completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.  She was named “Top 40 Under 40” by the Memphis Business Journal in 2007 and “Top 30 Under 30” by Business TN Magazine in 2005.

Jenny serves on the boards of the New Memphis Institute, Facing History and Ourselves, MENTOR National Mentoring Partnership Advisory Council, and the Healthy Memphis Common Table, and she is past-President of the Memphis Grantmakers Forum.  She is an avid runner, having completed two marathons and dozens of half marathons. Jenny and her family live in Germantown, TN.

Alayne Shoenfeld

Alayne Shoenfeld was born in Philadelphia and grew up in New Jersey. She has spent most of her career in education and community service, serving as the community relations director of a small museum and three public school districts in New York and New Jersey.

Alayne moved to Memphis in November 1996 and served for nearly 12 years as Partnership Development Manager at Volunteer Memphis. Since 2002, Alayne has been Manager of the Memphis Mentoring Partnership, a coalition of organizations offering youth mentoring services. MMP, now known as the Grizzlies Mentoring Alliance, is a part of the Memphis Grizzlies Charitable Foundation since 2008 and provides training and technical assistance as well as volunteer referral to mentoring program managers.

Alayne earned B.A. (Magna cum Laude) and M.S. degrees in education as well as a Professional Diploma in School District Administration from C.W. Post College of Long Island University.  She has been a member of the Executive Board and an active leader in the community service efforts of her synagogue and the National Council of Jewish Women – Memphis Section. She currently serves on the board of Manos de Madres, a foundation promoting women’s entrepreneurship in third world countries. She was honored by Memphis Woman Magazine as one of the “50 Women Who Make a Difference” in 2007.

She has visited 30 countries and has acquired many words and useful phrases in several languages. She lives with two cats – Lolita and Chance – who call her Mama.

Eric Leo Bleier

Eric Bleier is a Coordinator with the Memphis Grizzlies Charitable Foundation and his duties with Foundation have evolved since 2005 to include presentations and public speaking, website and database management, communication on behalf of the Foundation to mentors and all other contacts, and management of the TEAMmates loyalty program for mentors.

Born in Atlanta, Eric quickly developed roots in Memphis by attending grade school and junior high here. After high school in Plano, Texas, Eric received a Bachelor of Arts in History from Trinity University in San Antonio.

After dabbling in careers in school education and outdoor education, Eric started with the Memphis Grizzlies Charitable Foundation as an intern in 2005 and became Coordinator the next year. Eric lives, works and plays in Downtown Memphis and hobbies include backpacking, canoeing, spelunking and other forms of outdoors recreation. He has nearly given up listening to music, preferring talk radio, podcasts and e-books.

Joel Katz

Joel Katz has served the Memphis community since December 2010. He joined the Grizzlies Foundation as an AmeriCorps VISTA and later hired as a full-time Program Coordinator to implement, manage, and grow Grizzlies TEAM Mentoring, a team centric and school-based mentoring program that matches 3 volunteer mentors with 9 middle school students. Under Joel’s leadership, the program has doubled in size twice and now operates in 4 Memphis public charter schools serving 160+ students and 50+ volunteer mentors.

A native of Southern California, Joel completed his Bachelor’s degree at the University of California Santa Barbara in Geography and Sport Management. He created the official website for the UCSB Recreational Sports Department while serving as Online Marketing Manager and Managing Editor of Rec Sports News. Joel additionally played four years of goalkeeper for UCSB Club Soccer, led the team as President and Captain for a season, and was part of the 2007 National Championship squad.

Joel is currently the Goalkeeper Coach for the Germantown Legends Soccer Club and previously coached the Memphis JCC soccer team who won Gold in Israel at the 2011 Maccabi Games. Also an avid runner, Katz completed 3 full marathons in 2012 and always enjoys running the weekend 5K race.

Tiffani C. Morrow

Tiffani C. Morrow is a North Carolina native who has been a lover of sport all her life. Growing up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina she not only developed an early interest in competitive athletics, but also experienced firsthand how influential sport can be in our local communities.

As a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Tiffani focused on Exercise and Sport Science, obtaining a Teaching Licensure in Physical Education & Health Sciences. Her increased interest in Sport Business lead her to St. John’s University, where Tiffani earned a Master of Professional Studies in Sport Management. 

Tiffani’s studies allowed her opportunities to experience sport business in various places around the U.S. as has held positions at the NASCAR Headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida, IMG Headquarters in New York City, New York, The New York Jets in New Rutherford, New Jersey, and at the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland, Ohio.

Tiffani has joined our team in Memphis as an AmeriCorps VISTA for the Grizzlies Mentoring Alliance in which she assists in coordinating the Grizzlies TEAM Mentoring Program.