Charles Stewart

Little Rock, Arkansas

Charles Stewart serves on Heifer's Board as an At-Large Representative.

Charles's recent service to Heifer International includes serving as its Interim Chief Executive Officer for most of 2010.  He is a former Vice Chair and Chair of the Board.

Charles is retired from Regions Bank where he directed community development and community investment activities in the bank's eight-state region. He worked to enhance community development and rural development projects, innovative small business loans, loans to minority and women-owned businesses and neighborhood commercial development.

Stewart is a founding board member and chair of the Little Rock Preparatory Academy, an open enrollment public charter school, and co-founder and chair of the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame and the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame Foundation Inc.

He has served on many state and federal boards, including the Arkansas State Police Commission, Federal Small Business Advisory Council, Arkansas Interest on Lawyer's Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Foundation, Arkansas Repertory Theater and an advisory board of the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C. He also serves on boards for Philander Smith College, the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), the Governor's Blue Ribbon Committee on Higher Education, and is the founder and chair of the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.

Additionally, past board positions include the Arkansas Arthritis Foundation, Pulaski County Council on Aging, University of Arkansas at Little Rock Alumni, Arkansas Executive Forum—Walton School of Business University of Arkansas, Arkansas Regional Minority Supplier Development Council, Greater Little Rock Humanities Council, Arkansas Council for International Visitors, Professional Counseling Associates, Southwest Regional Medical Center, and Arkansas Business Publishing, Inc.

Stewart was the first African American appointed to the board of the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission, where he served as chair of the marketing committee overseeing the commission's Brussels, Taipei and Tokyo offices. A graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, he also graduated from the Louisiana State University Graduate School of Banking in Baton Rouge, La. He holds an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Philander Smith College and is an Honorary Chief of a Maasai Tribe in Tanzania.

Stewart was the first recipient of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock President's Award and an inductee into the UALR Hall of Honors. He has been recognized by the NCCJ with a National Humanitarian Award and is the recipient of the Empowerment Award bestowed by Africa Women's Health Project International.