Larry A. Lunsford, a certified public accountant, serves as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Bernstein-Rein Advertising Inc. in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. A recipient of bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from Truman State University, he has served his alma mater on its Alumni Association Board and its Foundation Board.

Lunsford is a board member of Global Ties KC, part of Global Ties U.S., a nonprofit network that advances international understanding through citizen diplomacy, and his local church’s foundation.

His passion for Rotary service began during his college years. In 1981-82, he traveled to Australia as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar, which he called a “nine-month daily immersion in Rotary.”

Lunsford joined Rotary in 1991 and has held numerous global leadership roles, including RI director, aide to RI President Mark Daniel Maloney, and Rotary Foundation trustee and vice chair. He has served on RI and Rotary Foundation committees, including the RI and Foundation finance and executive committees, and chaired the RI Membership Growth Committee and Rotary Peace Centers Committee.

During a morning walk in Evanston in August 2023, while he was serving as a Rotary Foundation trustee, Lunsford developed the idea to mirror the Foundation’s successful US$2.025 billion by 2025 Endowment fundraising campaign with a membership goal: 1,250,000 Rotarians by Rotary’s 125th anniversary in 2030. The RI Board adopted the goal in October 2023.

For the past 25 years, Lunsford has served as the “shoes cheerleader” for the signature service project of District 6040 (Missouri), which has donated nearly 500,000 pairs of shoes through the Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls project in partnership with Buckner International. He has traveled to the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Kenya, and Russia to deliver new shoes to orphaned children.

During a delivery trip to Russia, Lunsford gave a pair of boots to a boy whose name was Victor. About a year later in Guatemala, he discovered that another child he had helped shared that name.

“Two years, two trips, two countries, two Victors,” Lunsford says. “It was a complete reinforcement that I was on the right track. In Rotary, we just need to be in the right place at the right time."

Lunsford is a former college baseball and basketball player and all-around sports fan.

His honors include The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service, The Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award, and the RI Service Above Self Award.

He and his wife, Jill, have two children and one grandchild. Larry and Jill support The Rotary Foundation as Major Donors, Benefactors, and members of the Paul Harris Society, PolioPlus Society, and Bequest Society.