The 2024 Rising Star Professional Achievement Award Winner

Zachary Z. Kleiman ’06

Zachary Z. Kleiman is the president and general manager of basketball operations of the Memphis Grizzlies. In this role, he oversees and manages all basketball matters, including professional and amateur scouting, draft preparations, player acquisitions, and salary cap management. He was recognized as the NBA Basketball Executive of the Year, becoming the youngest recipient of the award, after Memphis tied its club record with fifty-six wins during the 2021–22 season.

Prior to joining the Grizzlies in 2015 as the team’s in-house legal counsel, Kleiman practiced law at Proskauer Rose, where he represented clients in the sports industry—including the National Basketball Association, Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball—in connection with an array of corporate matters.

Kleiman began his career in professional sports with internships with the then-Charlotte Bobcats (basketball operations), Oakland Raiders (legal), Los Angeles Lakers (public relations) and New York Knicks (basketball operations). He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Southern California and his JD from Duke University School of Law. Kleiman also serves on the board of directors of CodeCrew, a Memphis-based nonprofit organization, as well as the Duke Law Alumni Association board of directors.

The 2024 Alumni Service Award Winner

Miguel de la Cerna ’78

Miguel de la Cerna jump-started his music career while attending Lab when he was tapped by the famed opera star and teacher, Gisela Goettling, to accompany her vocal students. He was then asked by Dom Piane and Lucy Ambrosini to play the piano chair in the high school musical Godspell. He studied at the American Conservatory while at Lab and attended Oberlin College after graduating. He has since emerged as a world-renowned composer, arranger/music director and, as described in 2023 Chicago Jazz Festival program, “the best singer’s pianist around.” 

His professional return to Lab started with a request by U-High music teacher Mr. Dominic Piane to teach a master class for the high school jazz ensemble. From there he and Mr. Piane organized and produced the popular alumni jam session bridging generations of Lab musicians and performers. In 2013, he returned to conduct and music direct Godspell for the high school. He has returned annually from that point to direct and conduct musicals for the U-High theater program. De la Cerna is also thrilled to accompany Lobby Sing with the preschoolers, working with young students who might lead Lab into the next millennium. 

De la Cerna serves as music director for the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s eclectic JazzCity concert series, bringing jazz and world music to concert venues and neighborhoods throughout Chicagoland. A trustee of the Jazz Institute of Chicago, he currently serves as chair of the education committee.

De la Cerna’s daughter Isabella, a Lab-lifer, graduated in 2021.