Corporate Mentoring Initiatives: Innovative Approaches for Engaging Employees in Mentoring
Session 1: 9:55-10:55 (2 hour workshop)
Many corporate volunteer managers are interested in providing opportunities for their employees to mentor youth in the community, either through partnerships with schools and organizations, or through customized, on-site initiatives. Come to this workshop to learn about innovative approaches companies across the nation are using to connect their employees with youth mentoring opportunities and how you can replicate these strategies here at home.
Intended Workshop Audience: Managers of corporate mentoring initiatives and program leaders
Presented by Dr. Larry Wright, President and CEO of MENTOR/The National Mentoring Partnership, Jenny Turner Koltnow, Executive Director of the Memphis Grizzlies Charitable Foundation, additional panelists TBA
Dr. Larry Wright is the President & CEO of MENTOR, the National Mentoring Partnership. MENTOR supports a network of 25 state mentoring partnerships that serve approximately 5000 mentoring programs nationwide for 3 million youth. Before joining MENTOR, Wright was the Executive Director of Washington State Mentors in Seattle, Washington. During that time, the organization grew to become one of the largest and most successful mentoring partnerships in the country. While at Washington State Mentors, Wright helped quadruple the organization's membership. He also helped secure a multi-million dollar grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and saw the number of youth with a mentor nearly double in four years. Prior to his work at Washington State Mentors, Wright conducted research on nonprofits in the United States and Europe. He started his career as an editor at CBS radio in Seattle and later taught journalism at the University of Wisconsin and Seattle University. He has also worked as the Marketing Director for the College Success Foundation in Washington State. He has a Ph.D. in communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is an adjunct faculty member at Seattle University. Committed to community service, he has served as an elected official on his local county council and as a commissioner on the Washington State Commission on Homelessness.
Since 2004, Jenny Turner Koltnow has served as the founding Executive Director of the Memphis Grizzlies Charitable Foundation. Under her leadership, the Grizzlies Foundation has been named a finalist for the prestigious international 2011 Beyond Sport "Sport Team of the Year" Award (winner to be announced in December 2011), winner of the 2007 Steve Patterson Award for Excellence in Sports Philanthropy, presented by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Sports Philanthropy Project and the 2008 “Outstanding Foundation of the Year” by the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Memphis Chapter. Jenny directs all Foundation programs, partnerships, marketing and events, and she has facilitated the donation of over $27 million in charitable grants. In addition, Koltnow drives the Grizzlies TEAM UP Youth Mentoring initiative, a comprehensive community-wide campaign to engage individuals and organizations in youth mentoring. She created and still leads Staxtacular, the largest annual fundraising event for Soulsville and the Stax Music Academy, hosted annually by Memphis Grizzlies players.
Prior to her current position, Jenny served as the Manager of Community Investment of the Memphis Grizzlies. Her career has spanned nonprofit administration, sport management and higher education. Born in Washington, DC and raised in Wisconsin, Koltnow completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. She currently serves as the President of the Memphis Grantmakers Forum and serves on the boards of The Leadership Academy and the Healthy Memphis Common Table. She has been named “Top 30 Under 30” by Business TN magazine; “Top 40 Under 40” by the Memphis Business Journal; and was a Southeastern Council of Foundation’s Hull Fellow. Jenny is also a 2011 Boston Marathon finisher, raising over $9K to support the Massachusetts Mentoring Partnership, a designated BAA Charity. Jenny and her family live in Germantown, Tennessee.