Kela D. Jones - Associate Athletic Director, Annual Fund & Women's Sports Initiatives - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Kela D. Jones

Title:
Associate Athletic Director, Annual Fund & Women's Sports Initiatives
Email:

Kela D. Jones joined the Memphis Athletic Department in October 2025 as the Associate Athletic Director & Women's Sports Initiatives.

In her role, she provides oversight of the Memphis Athletics Fund and guides the strategic direction of all annual revenue planning, including managing the marketing and communication plans for the annual fund. She also provides oversight of all donor steward ship and events and supervises the director of athletic annual fund & letterwinner relations, director of athletic stewardship and engagement and associate director of athletic gift processing and business operations.

A key part of Jones' role is to provide leadership ad advocation for women's sports programs in external strategy, which includes marketing plans, planning and hosting fundraising events and managing a donor portfolio specifically geared toward generating resources for women's sports. She also works alongside financial leadership to develop strategies to acquire necessary resources and funding for sports, projects, etc.

Most recently, Jones was a self-employed nonprofit consultant for eight years after serving for 18 months as the Senior Director of Development at CSforALL. She also spent four years as the Deputy Executive Director at CodeCrew.

Jones has also previously worked with the Memphis Music Initiative, Peer Power Foundation, Memphis Urban League, Homestead-Miami Sppedway, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis and the Memphis Redbirds.

She is an active member of the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance, Tennessee Nonprofit Alliance and the Standards for Excellence Institute.

Jones received a bachelor's degree in sports & leisure studies with a focus in sports marketing from the University of Memphis in 2007.

Jones has a son, Kaden Gray, and a daughter and son-in-law, Brittany and Jeremy Walton, and she is proud of her amazing Crown Royal Peach Cobbler recipe.