IT entrepreneur David Steward is the wealthiest African American man in the nation. According to Forbes , his net worth is at a record $11.4 billion dollars, making him part of the only one percent of Black entrepreneurs or executives on the impressive list. The multi-billionaire has a true “rags to riches” story, but his fight and dedication to technology, family, and all people sets him apart from others in the business. This is the evolution of David L. Steward. A version of this article originally appeared on The Root. 2 / 19 Born Born Steward was born in Chicago, but his family moved to Missouri when he was a child, according to NMSDC . He was raised in the segregated South with his seven siblings. His father worked as a mechanic, janitor, and trash collector to support his family. 3 / 19 College College The Central Missouri University alumnus graduated in 1973 with a Bachelors of Science in business. 4 / 19 Pursuing Sales Pursuing Sales Soon after graduating, the Missouri native pursued a career in sales with Missouri Pacific Railroad, Union Pacific, and FedEx. He was even named salesman of the year at FedEx. 5 / 19 Marriage Marriage Steward and his wife, Thelma, married in 1977. The couple has been married for almost 50 years. 6 / 19 Stepping Into Business Stepping Into Business In 1983, the businessman bought his first business, an auditing company named Transportation Business Specialists, with several loans from local banks across Missouri. 7 / 19 Hard Times Hard Times Steward co-founded World Wide Technology (WWT) in 1990. During the early years of the company, he faced financial hardships, at times forgoing a paycheck and witnessing his car being repossessed from the office parking lot. 8 / 19 Living in the Land of the Free Living in the Land of the Free Despite the setbacks, the 73-year-old billionaire businessman said “The breadth and depth of opportunities we have here [in the U.S.], coupled with a culture that allows you to be all you can be, makes it possible for anyone to be successful,” according to the Horatio Alger Association. 9 / 19 Expansion Expansion WWT soon expanded to offer full-scale technology solutions— “ranging from cloud computing and data analytics to cybersecurity and digital transformation services,” according to Black Engineer. 10 / 19 Big Break Big Break When the company secured contracts with government agencies and Fortune 500 companies, it positioned itself as a trusted technology leader. 11 / 19 Growing to Billions Growing to Billions Now, the company employs over 10,000 people and rakes in over $20 billion in annual revenues and over $6 million in international income. 12 / 19 Steward as an Author Steward as an Author In 2004, Steward penned his first book with the help of author Robert L. Shook. Their book, “Doing Business by the Good Book,” is described as “an indispensable volume that shows how to succeed in business by using the Bible and its lessons as a source of inspiration and guidance,” according to Amazon . 13 / 19 Supporting Sen. Tim Scott Supporting Sen. Tim Scott The billionaire is no stranger to supporting political campaigns. In 2023, Sen. Tim Scott tapped Steward to be the finance chair of Scott’s 2024 presidential campaign, according to CNBC . 14 / 19 Joining Other Organizations Joining Other Organizations He serves on the Executive Committee of Greater St. Louis, Inc. and the boards of National Academy Foundation (NAF), United Way of Greater St. Louis, Concordance Academy, Washington University, Variety the Children’s Charity of St. Louis, Boy Scouts of America and many other organizations. 15 / 19 Honorary Degrees Honorary Degrees Steward holds an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Washington University. He also has an Honorary Doctorates in Humane Letters from several colleges and universities. 16 / 19 Family Family The businessman has two children, Kimberly and David II. Kimberly is an Oscar-nominated film producer, and David II leads Lion Forge Animation, a media company dedicated to diverse storytelling. 17 / 19 Philanthropy Philanthropy The David and Thelma Steward Family Foundation— named after the billionaire and his wife— provides millions in donations to causes related to education, youth development, military families, and underserved communities, according to Black Engineer. 18 / 19 Now Surpassing Robert Smith Now Surpassing Robert Smith This year, Steward beat out Vista Equity Partners founder Robert Smith for the no. 1 spot on Forbes’ Richest Black People list. Smith, who’s net worth comes in at $10.8 billion, ranks no. 88 on Forbes 400 list. Steward comes in at no. 84 19 / 19FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Cam Miller threw three touchdown passes, ran for another and second-seeded North Dakota State blew past a 14-point deficit to beat 15th-seeded Abilene Christian 51-31 on Saturday in the second round of the FCS playoffs. The Bison (11-2), in the FCS playoffs for a 15th straight season and winner of nine FCS titles, will host seventh-seeded Mercer in the quarterfinals. Abilene Christian (9-5) took a 17-3 lead on a 13-yard TD pass from Maverick McIvor to J.J. Henry, a 90-yard run by Sam Hicks and a Ritse Vaes 29-yard field goal early in the second quarter. The Bison then took over, starting with Jackson Williams' 100-yard kickoff return to start a run of 31 consecutive points, 17 coming in the second quarter for a 20-17 halftime lead. The scoring streak ended when Nehemiah Martinez’s 53-yard return helped set up Hicks’ 3-yard score to get the Wildcats within 34-24. But the Bison matched that TD on their ensuing drive on Miller’s 36-yard connection with Bryce Lance to cap their 21-point third quarter. Again, the Wildcats got within 10 early in the fourth quarter on Rovaughn Banks Jr.’s 2-yard TD run. But NDSU’s Marcus Gulley returned an interception 37 yards to the ACU 9 and the Crosa kicked a field goal and Logan Kopp followed with a 31-yard pick-6. Miller was 20 of 29 for 274 yards passing. McIvor threw for 153 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Hicks ran for 153 yards on 16 carries. ACU, champion of the United Athletic Conference, was in its first FCS playoffs since joining the classification in 2013, and beat Northern Arizona in its first-round game. Crosa has made his 262nd career PAT to pass NDSU's Cam Pederson (2015-18) and set an FCS record. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football . Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://apnews.com/cfbtop25jili 20 。

Mascari shot 6 for 9 (6 for 8 from 3-point range) and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line for the Bulldogs (5-0). Bennett Stirtz scored 17 points and added six assists. Tavion Banks had 12 points and shot 2 of 5 from the field and 8 of 10 from the free-throw line. The Owls (4-3) were led in scoring by Leland Walker, who finished with 14 points and five assists. Matas Vokietaitis and Tre Carroll each scored 10 points. Drake entered halftime up 32-28. Mascari paced the team in scoring in the first half with 11 points. Drake took the lead for what would be the final time on Banks' free throw with 14:22 left in the second half. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi from Sivasagar took a veiled jab at Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who also serves as the BJP's in-charge for Jharkhand, shortly after the state's election results were declared. In a social media post, Gogoi stated - "Is he invincible? No... What is clear from the Jharkhand election is that he does not carry a magic wand to win elections," Gogoi stated. He lauded Jharkhand’s example, where regional forces led the charge against the BJP, supported by a cooperative Congress. Gogoi pointed out that the Congress played a secondary role in Jharkhand's alliance, demonstrating humility and unity, which led to the opposition’s success. He contrasted this with Maharashtra, where the Congress’ alleged arrogance in alliance dynamics led to defeat. Also Read: “The Jharkhand election was led by its regional forces, supported and cooperated by the Congress. In Jharkhand, the Congress did not show arrogance. It fought together,” he said. Gogoi stressed the need for Assam's regional forces to unite and take a similar approach ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections. “The Assam by-elections showed that only with combined opposition forces can we defeat the BJP’s money and muscle power, misuse of government machinery, and organizational strength. The regional forces of Assam must start working from today onwards.” Calling for introspection within the Congress, Gogoi argued that arrogance or disunity among opposition parties plays directly into the BJP’s hands. “Assam can follow the example of Jharkhand to protect its regional economic, environmental, social, and political interests and promote progressive democratic politics,” he asserted. With just a year left before the next major political battle, Gogoi urged all democratic forces and well-wishers to join hands to form a united front. “This is the call of time,” he concluded, reiterating the importance of collective action to counter the BJP's dominance.

After more than 50 years, legendary broadcast journalist Chuck Scarborough stepped down from his daily duties anchoring the news at NBC 4 New York. His last day anchoring at the 6 p.m. news at WNBC was Thursday, Dec. 12. Chuck will continue to be a part of the WNBC family and provide special reports and contributions to special station projects and programming. Here's his message to viewers as he closed out his final broadcast: This is my final broadcast as anchor of the evening news on NBC 4 New York. First and foremost, I am profoundly grateful for your trust. Without that, I would not have survived for more than half a century in this job and been allowed to occupy this front row seat to the history of our fascinating metropolis and the world beyond for so long. Four months after I arrived in 1974, President Nixon, who won a landslide election just two-years earlier, resigned. The first presidential resignation in the nation’s history. In 1975, New York City plunged into effective bankruptcy and the Vietnam war came to a chaotic end. The pace of breaking news has been relentless ever since. We’ve been through blackouts together, riots, crime waves, hurricanes, blizzards, economic crises, corruption (public and private), 9/11, wars and a pandemic. But just as important were the stories of human achievement in the arts and sciences, of forgiveness, kindness, recovery, and resilience. If there is one overarching lesson I’ve learned, it is that we are more resilient than we realize – individually and as a city and nation. We get knocked down, and we come back stronger. I will be eternally grateful for the privilege of working with so many dedicated, brilliant and talented broadcast journalists on both sides of the camera, some risking their lives in dangerous places to bring you the news. In this age of algorithms and cable channels herding the citizenry into like-minded silos of A.I., and social media fictions suffocating truth, it has never been more important to do what they do so well: hue to the basic principles of accuracy, objectivity and fairness. I’m going to leave you with a final thought I shared with my NBC colleagues earlier this year when they gathered in the Rainbow Room to celebrate my 50th anniversary with the National Broadcasting Company – itself a quintessential American success story, founded by a Russian immigrant named David Sarnoff, who began by selling newspapers at age 15 to help support his struggling family. I urged my colleagues to do something I still do to re-establish perspective, appreciation, a sense of mission. Walk out on Fifth Avenue, and look back through the Channel Gardens, across the skating rink, above the statue, at this towering building with awe, and say: “I work here. I work here, and this is important. What I do is important. I work for the National Broadcasting Company, the oldest and largest television network in this country, with a storied history.” Feel the weight of that history. The weight of the responsibility that we all bear to get it right, to do it well, to make it interesting. It’s an honor to work with you. That message was aimed at our work here, the grinding challenges of daily news gathering. But it just as easily applies to our city, and to our country, and to all of you – all of us. We all need to lift our eyes occasionally from the political fevers and societal imperfections of the day and appreciate what we have, how far we’ve come, and the opportunity we’ve been given to continue our journey toward a more perfect union. Thank you, and good night.

Past election challengers quiet as Michigan board certifies Trump's win