Larry Lester
After working in Finance and Information Technology for 30 years, Larry Lester recently retired from corporate America to pursue his life-long passion – sports history. Through his company, NoirTech Research, Inc., Lester provides sports scholarship to educational institutions, museums, corporations, libraries and churches.
To achieve this objective, Lester offers a variety of programs through presentations, exhibits, workshops and hosting an academic conference every year since 1998. The Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference is the only symposium in the past 10 years dedicated exclusively to the examination of black baseball history and has become the second largest baseball conference in the country.
Lester has authored six books, with articles appearing in World Book Encyclopedia, Dictionary of American Negro Biography, Biographical Dictionary of American Sports, The National Pastime, Major League Baseball’s website and two World Series programs. Lester has made media appearances on CNN, PBS, ESPN, NBC, ESPN2 and HBO, and has served as a consultant on several sports documentaries.
Mal Warrick
Mal Warrick currently works for Hallmark Cards as Director of Logistics Services for the Operations Division. He provides leadership to Fixture Operations’ Industrial Design, Engineering, Plant Production, Warehousing and component delivery to 43,000 locations including Gold Crown Stores and major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS and grocery stores. Warrick is also the Senior Sponsor for the Operations Division’s Diversity and Inclusion program. Prior to Hallmark, Warrick worked for Procter & Gamble for 22 years.
Warrick earned a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University in 1982, and also attended Purdue University after graduating as Valedictorian from Lincoln High School in Kansas City, Missouri. Warrick’s community service activities include: Boys & Girls Club (Board Member – 9 yrs); Wyandotte County Development (1 yr); Children’s Program Committee Leader (8 yrs); Leadership 20/20 Board (President – 1 yr, Steering Team Member – 4 yrs); Wyandotte County United Way (Executive Board Vice Chair & Personnel Committee Chairperson – 2 yrs); Wyandotte Works’ Project Sponsor; Kansas City Church of Christ (Elder); Kansas City Tomorrow (2007-2008 Class); Les Chats Basketball Organization (Coach – 3+ yrs).
Philip Spencer
Philip Spencer has been a part of two successful start-up/early stage communications business ventures. He spent six years with Everest Connections, serving as President and CEO; under his guidance, Everest generated annual revenues of $60,000,000 and was named the second fastest growing firm in the Kansas City metro in 2005. Spencer appeared before federal, state and local agencies in promoting Everest in the Kansas City community.
Prior to joining Everest, Spencer was President and Founder of Advantech, Inc., a regional telecommunications company headquartered in Atlanta, GA. Advantech doubled in size for six consecutive years and was successfully sold to a national telecommunications services firm. Spencer has also held several management positions of increasing responsibility in sales, marketing and business development with AT&T, GE Capital Communications Services and Sprint. Spencer currently serves on the Board of The Kansas Black Chamber and The Enterprise Center of Johnson County.
Spencer holds a B.S. in Finance and Economics from Marquette University.