by Wade Tyler Millward
David Steward founded integrator World Wide Technology in 1990 and has helped lead it to become a multi-billion-dollar juggernaut.
Coming in at No. 10 on CRN's 2022 Solution Provider 500, WWT considers itself to be the largest Black-owned company in the U.S.
WWT went from a handful of employees and 4,000 square feet of office space to more than 7,000 employees worldwide and more than 4 million square feet of warehousing, distribution and integration space, according to the company's website.
Steward received a bachelor's degree in business management in 1973 from Central Missouri State University, according to Washington University in St. Louis. He hitchhiked to St. Louis, putting all his possessions in a knapsack, moved in with his sister and worked part time as a substitute teacher.
He went on to an executive position with Boy Scouts of America and then sales and marketing positions with Wagner Electric Corp., Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. and Federal Express before founding WWT.
