MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday named Rich Cho as Vice President of Basketball Strategy and Glen Grunwald as Senior Advisor within the franchise’s basketball operations department.
“We are excited to welcome Rich and Glen to the Grizzlies,” Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Zachary Z. Kleiman said. “Rich and Glen bring a wealth of experience, basketball acumen and leadership to the organization as we continue to build and shape our basketball operations.”
Cho comes to Memphis with over 20 years of front office experience, including seven seasons (2011-18) as General Manager of the Charlotte Hornets. As the Hornets’ lead basketball operations executive, Cho managed all player personnel matters, including salary cap management, analytics and information management, professional and collegiate scouting, draft preparations and player acquisitions.
A native of Burma, Cho became the first Asian-American general manager in American major league sports when he served as General Manager of the Portland Trail Blazers during the 2010-11 season. Prior to his stint in Portland, Cho spent 10 years as Assistant General Manager of the Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder.
Cho earned an engineering degree from Washington State University and worked as an engineer at Boeing in Seattle from 1989-94 before pursuing an NBA front office career simultaneous to earning a law degree from Pepperdine University.
Grunwald joins the Grizzlies with senior executive experience with the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks. Hired by the Knicks in 2006, Grunwald spent seven seasons (2006-13) in New York, including the last two as Executive Vice President and General Manager, constructing a roster that won 54 games in his final season at the helm (2012-13). An original member of the Toronto front office, Grunwald served a decade (1994-2004) with the Raptors, including his final seven seasons (1997-2004) as General Manager, and led the organization to its first three playoff appearances (2000-02).
Grunwald, who earned Canadian citizenship in 1999, spent last season (2018-19) as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Canada Basketball following a four-year stint (2014-18) as Director of Athletics and Recreation at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He also worked for two years (2004-06) as President and CEO of the Toronto Board of Trade before joining the Knicks.
The Chicago native graduated from Indiana University in 1981, where he co-captained the Hoosiers’ 1981 NCAA Championship team. He earned his law degree from Northwestern in 1984 and added a master’s degree in business administration from Indiana in 1986.
