2026 Keynote Presenters & Panelists - BIPOC Outdoors at NMU

Lance Woods is a Detroit native, community leader, mentor, and co-founder of WeRun313, one of the largest run clubs in the world and the largest in Detroit. A graduate of Tennessee State University, where he earned a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in E-Business and Supply Chain Management, Lance began his career in logistics before returning to Detroit in 2014 to focus on community development, health, and wellness. He also served for five years as an educator at Cody High School in Detroit Public Schools. 

In 2019, Lance co-founded WeRun313, which quickly became a major force in Detroit’s fitness culture, engaging thousands of runners and earning national media recognition from NBC’s Today, Runner’s World, and the Detroit Free Press. As a Global ASICS ambassador and elite marathoner, Lance has completed all six Abbott World Marathon Majors with an average sub-three-hour time, an achievement shared by only 932 people worldwide. His 2:44:21 performance in Berlin ranks him No. 74 on the Ted Corbitt All-Time Rankings for American-born African American male marathoners. 

Lance’s civic leadership has earned him numerous honors, including two Spirit of Detroit Awards, a Special Tribute from the State of Michigan, the Presidential Volunteer Service Award, and recognition from Black Male Engagement. He also received the Self-Determination Award from the Black Legacy Advancement Coalition and, most recently, the 2025 Community Game Changer Award from the Rhonda Walker Foundation. He is an active member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, the Coleman A. Young Foundation, and other organizations dedicated to uplifting Detroit.

Jean Alicia Elster is a 2017 Kresge Fellow, award-winning author, and former attorney whose work brings family oral histories to life through powerful historical fiction. For more than forty years, she and her family have returned annually to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula—backpacking in the Porcupine Mountains and exploring the natural beauty of Little Presque Isle in Marquette—developing a deep, personal relationship with the landscapes of the Great Lakes region. Drawing from these lived experiences and family memories, Jean contributed her family’s stories to the anthology Black Summers: Growing Up in the Urban Outdoors, helping document and preserve Black experiences in nature, recreation, and outdoor belonging across generations. Her storytelling offers a powerful reminder that the outdoors has always been a place of memory, belonging, and possibility for diverse communities.