Kevin Warren’s extensive background in athletics and unique perspective in both law and business, has been instrumental to the Wilf family ownership group for the entire four seasons of their stewardship of the Minnesota Vikings.Warren enters his 10th season in the NFL and his fourth with the Vikings in 2008. Warren is the Vikings’ Vice President of Operations and Legal Counsel with primary responsibility for various day-to-day business operational issues, legal affairs, strategic planning and special projects, while also serving as the Vikings’ primary liaison with the NFL. In 2007, Warren was appointed to the NFL’s working group on emergency planning.Prior to joining the Vikings, Warren worked as an attorney from 2003-2005, including working with the Wilf ownership group during their acquisition of the Vikings. Warren spent 2001-03 with the Detroit Lions as Senior Vice President of Business Operations and General Counsel. While working with the Lions, he was recognized by Crain’s Detroit Business on their “40 Under 40” list as one of the top 40 Detroit business leaders under the age of 40. Prior to joining the Vikings’ NFC North rivals in Detroit, Warren worked from 1997-2001 with the St. Louis Rams, including the Rams’ Super Bowl XXXIV championship over the Tennessee Titans. During his tenure with St. Louis, Warren served as Vice President of Player Programs and Football Legal Counsel from 1997-2000 before serving as Vice President of Football Administration in 2001. Warren’s first exposure to sports law came when he worked with an Overland Park, Kansas law firm that specialized in representing universities charged with NCAA violations. Warren also worked as a sports and entertainment attorney/agent, representing various professional athletes and entertainers.Warren’s involvement in athletics helped pave the way for his future career. As a freshman on the University of Pennsylvania basketball team, Warren was part of the Quakers’ Ivy League championship team in 1982. A native of Tempe, AZ, Warren enrolled at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix to complete his undergraduate degree. While at Grand Canyon, he excelled both in the classroom and on the basketball court. Warren scored over 1,100 points during his two seasons at Grand Canyon and earned GTE/CoSida Academic All-America honors as a senior and also received NAIAAcademic All-America honors as both a junior and senior.Warren earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Grand Canyon University in 1986, his master’s degree in business administration from Arizona State University in 1988, and his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Notre Dame School of Law in 1990. Warren is a member of both the Kansas and Michigan Bar Associations.Several members of Warren’s family have helped fuel his lifelong passion for sports, including his father, the late Dr. Morrison Warren, Sr., who played professional football for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1948 during the era of the All- American Football Conference, before the league was merged with the NFL. The senior Warren would go on to be the first African-American President of a major college bowl game when he was named President of the 1982 Fiesta Bowl. Warren’s oldest brother, Morrison, Jr., was one of the first African-American scholarship athletes at Stanford, playing football for the Cardinal in the early 1960s, before a severe knee injury cut short his promising athletic career.An active member of the Twin Cities community, Warren was named to the United Way Board of Directors in 2007, named to the Page Education Foundation Board of Directors in 2006, has taken an active role in Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity and was recognized by Twin Cities Business Journal in 2006 as a Minority Business Leader. Warren also has been a member of the Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors since 2004. Warren and his wife, Greta, who holds a bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University, have a daughter, Peri, and a son, Powers. The Warren family resides in Chanhassen, MN.