David Steward

About David Steward

David Steward is the founder and chairman of IT provider World Wide Technology.

Steward grew up in the segregated South with seven siblings; his father worked as a mechanic, janitor and trash collector.

After graduating from Central Missouri University, he worked in sales for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, Union Pacific and FedEx before cofounding World Wide Technology in 1990.

In the early days, Steward sometimes went without a paycheck and once watched his car get repossessed from the office parking lot.

Today he is majority owner of the $17 billion (sales) company, whose customers include Citi, Verizon and the federal government.

Steward donated $1.3 million to the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2018 to create the David and Thelma Steward Institute for Jazz Studies.