Sherley L. Spears

Sherley L. Spears is a founding member of M.A.N.O. She is a retired telecommunications manager and a licensed Real Estate Broker in the state of Texas for more than 20 years.   

She has served on the San Angelo Association of Realtors as a Board member.  She is the first and only Black-owned Real Estate Brokerage firm in the city of San Angelo with her brokerage, Spears Legacy Real Estate Group. During her time on the board, she chaired the Education Committee and served on various other committees. In 2023, she was awarded the first ever "Good Neighbor Award" from the local association of Realtors for her service in the community.

Ms. Spears is the founder of a new historic memorial in the city that gives honor to the Black Regiments of the U. S. Army known as Buffalo Soldiers who served at Fort Concho, which opened July 28, 2023.  The memorial is located in the Paseo, across from Fort Concho and is named in honor of past leaders of the San Angelo NAACP.  She is the immediate past President of the San Angelo NAACP, having served four years, and currently serves as the Texas NAACP State Conference Secretary.   

Ms. Spears hails from Fort Worth, TX and has always had a passion and commitment to serve the community.  As a community leader, Ms. Spears has served more than 60 years wherever she lived, helping to be the voice of those who needed assistance in leadership, fundraising, voter registration, social justice, organizational development, and community engagement primarily in the Black community. She is a past board member of the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce, graduate of the Leadership San Angelo organization, and past Chair of the Diversity Committee for the Chamber. She is a past President of the Fort Concho Museum Board, and serves on the TIRZ board in San Angelo.   Along the way during her time in the city, she has served on various other boards and committees representing the interest of the minority community.

• Ms. Spears holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Dallas Baptist University, and a Masters Certification in IT Software Development Project Management from George Washington University.  

• She spent more than 30 years in the telecommunications industry with increasing areas of responsibility, retiring in 2004 as a senior manager in Information Technology.

• She created a history development company that focuses on Black History of Black American accomplishments from the western part of Texas.  This organization publishes a periodic magazine providing important and often forgotten history.  

• She serves in various consulting roles throughout the state working in the areas of leadership development, project management and history.

   

• She has been honored by the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce as  “Chairman of the Year”, for her dedication and work in diversity, equity inclusion, and where she presented the resolution that was later approved to include Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as a part of business policy throughout the business community.  She chaired the Diversity Committee for several years where she has promoted training and business opportunities for Black owned and minority owned businesses and created the Business directory for Black Owned businesses in San Angelo.  Ms. Spears was honored by the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce Diversity Committee with the Community Impact Award for two consecutive years.
• She was also honored by the Leadership San Angelo Alumni with the Bob Diebitsch Outstanding Alumnus Award for hard work, dedication and personal and professional acumen, viewed as a strong leader for the city of San Angelo.

• In 2020, she received a vision to create a memorial to honor the men of the 9th & 10th Cavalry and the 24th & 25th Infantry of the U.S. Army, which is recognized as original regiments of what has become known as the Buffalo Soldiers.  She led the fundraising and Program Manager for the memorial, including organizing a diverse group of local leaders, internationally known authors and esteemed Buffalo Soldier living history presenters.  The project raised over $500K and opened on July 28, 2023, National Buffalo Soldier DAy.

• Ms. Spears is a past Board of Director for the San Angelo Association of Realtors where she chaired the Education Committee and continuously works to keep a focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as part of the industry’s strategic plan and educational objectives.

• Recently, she was selected to head up the Central West Texas Negro Business and Professional Women’s Club, Inc., and has been involved with the founding of 3 other clubs in Texas and Louisiana- New Orleans, Austin and Waco.

• Her community advocacy has also involved leading a petition against the city to install restrooms at Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Park, and fund raised to secure over $250K and manange the completion of the restroom project with the city and a local architecht firm completing the installation.  The project was completed in 2023.   

Ms. Spears is an advocate for social justice and works to ensure a place at the table in areas where Blacks and other minorities are disenfranchised in areas of health, voting rights, economic development and social justice.

Ms. Spears has one adult child, and one grandchild.