David Steward

When I look at this company, I envision a billion-dollar business, and that's how it's run.

The stock market lives in the present. I live for the unseen.

If I back down from this company, how can I get my kids to believe me when I tell them they can do anything?

I'm cashing in on the excitement of making a difference in the world.

I see my people having babies and moving into nice homes, not just at this company but at our suppliers and customers.

Investments in diversity are critical for the long-term viability and future competitiveness of WWT.

As the only African American NASCAR driver in over 40 years, we have been honored to support Bubba Wallace.

With the Victory Junction alliance, we will celebrate and enable kids with diverse challenges and perspectives to reach their fullest abilities.

Given our family's long history with Variety the Children's Charity, BJC Health System and St. Jude's, it was an easy decision to get involved with Victory Junction.

As an African-American, I think the way I treated others affected how people treated me. If people do attack you in certain ways, you can focus on it and be vengeful in your approach or take the high road - get over it.

I was part of integrating the public swimming pool in the 1960s. A group of us decided one day we were going to go swimming. Nothing happened. No resistance. We just went and jumped in.

I am not one to back down when it comes to taking a stand for what I believe.

My biggest obligation is to serve the people of this organization, and to serve them well. I serve them with the best benefit packages, whether it's health care, dental or a 401(k) plan. I support them with the tools they need to be the very best they can possibly be.

It has been a great honor to serve the four campuses of the University of Missouri System in the role of curator, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity.

I vividly remember segregation - separate schools, sitting in the balcony at the movie theater, being barred from the public swimming pool.

I realized we were going through one of the greatest revolutions that ever hit the history of the world - the information age - and I wanted to be a part of it.

At the end of the day, you want to work with people that you like and you trust, and sometimes it takes time to build those relationships.

The company has grown so by hiring the right people, and a key person responsible for finding the right people is Ann Marr. Ann is responsible on both ends - finding the people and retaining them.

Tom Wall has the unique ability to extract, cultivate and realize a vision that goes far beyond simple bricks and mortar. He has an amazing appreciation of art and beauty and his designs begin with listening to his clients.

When I engaged the team at Mitchell Wall, it was clear from the beginning that this was a very special architectural firm.

I don't know any other leader in this community who is more serious about diversity than Michael Neidorff.

There's a biblical saying that I truly believe in: 'To whom much is given, much is required.'

There have been some doors opened to us as a result of our being a minority-owned business. But that's not going to sustain us over the long term.

We're probably one of the few Internet dot-com B2Bs business-to-business companies that have improved their bottom line.

I didn't know much about hockey.

One of the reasons we are profitable is the changes that we've made and the long-term relationships we've built with major corporations. We have gotten out there and put our nose to the grindstone and simply been competitive.

By addressing generations of trauma in the Black community, Concordance helps people released from prison achieve significant change and lasting success for themselves, their families and the community.

I knew a gentleman who was 65 who had a consulting firm outside of Kansas City, Mo. I convinced him to sell me the business, which did auditing and reviewing of freight bill charges, for nothing down. It was a step out of working in this bureaucratic setting of corporate America and going out on my own in 1984.

Thelma and I are excited to work with UMSL around our shared passion for jazz and education and make this initial investment to establish the institute.

Every day, at the end of the day, I ask myself, 'Am I living my life worthy of the sacrifice and commitment the people who went before me made on my behalf?'

It was clear in my mind that my belief in God, coupled with the desire to work hard to serve others, meant I was destined to succeed.

I love my employees and show them through my actions.

I literally lived on the other side of the railroad tracks, but I learned that division doesn't work.

You remember the dates that changed your life.

We still live in the greatest country in the world, and God blesses persons of color too.

I used to mow grass and sell Christmas cards and shovel snow in order to raise the $25 to go to Boy Scout Camp in Osceola every year.

We used to go to the jazz fest in Kansas City. And my mother and father took me.

For me, it's all about the youth and us stepping up as a community to embed a set of value systems to help these children make better decisions that are based on something.

I went to St. James Methodist Church in Clinton, a segregated church on the other side of the tracks.

My mother was the only musician. She played piano and she sang. She also played saxophone. And she played at home a lot.

We were re-engineering the entire business and at the same time having accelerated growth. That's like changing the engine while the plane is in the air.

It's all about culture. If you can get the right people with the right mindset, the right core values and the ability to change on a dime, then you have the ability to invest and do what's best for the health and long-term value proposition of the business.

As our region and neighbors face unprecedented challenges and impacts amid the Covid-19 crisis and the call for racial equity, our support of United Way and its work is more critical than ever.

United Way works to create a safe and healthy home for everyone in our community.

We intend to pursue future gifts to exceed $8.1 million in conjunction with UMSL, Jazz St. Louis and the business community to ensure perpetual growth and a sustainable impact to the education of St. Louis children and beyond.

We have been blessed with substantial opportunities to continue to expand our business globally. This ultimately will create more jobs for the state of Missouri, and I am choosing to make that my primary focus.

To be able to create a platform that's innovative and different that incorporates technology you couldn't incorporate before is an interesting and unique opportunity.

The spirit of St. Louis as I view it from my lens is a spirit of giving.

I have not seen a community more giving than St. Louis.

The generational cycle of people returning to prison has enormous, negative impacts on all Americans, especially the family members of incarcerated people.