Born in Hollywood, California, Howard N. Stewart is the youngest of three children and the only son of Joyce and Roger Stewart.  His parents moved the family to Tucson, Arizona in 1970 to start AGM.

During his teenage years, Howard worked full-time in AGM’s production and shipping departments during summers and holidays.

In 1981, he received his Bachelors in Political Science from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. He then interned for the Christian Science Monitor in Boston before joining the Peace Corps in Kenya. Thereafter, he became a stockbroker for Dean-Witter/Reynolds in Tucson.

In 1984, Howard opened two ice cream stores, one in Tucson and another in Tempe. He successfully ran these stores for five years, as exemplified by the fact that his Tucson store was voted “Best Ice Cream in Tucson” all five years that this store was open.

Howard began his career as AGM’s Purchasing Assistant in 1989.  In 1990, he was promoted to Sales Engineer and two years later he was promoted to Vice President of Marketing. In 1997, he was named Executive Vice President and later became President in 2000.

Since he took over as President, AGM is one of only three Southern Arizona companies to have been recognized with all three Wells Fargo Copper Cactus awards (2004 “Community Service,” 2001 “Business Growth,” and 2002 “Best Place to Work”), as well as to have been honored with Tucson’s Small Business Leader of the Year Award, which Howard was selected as at a Wells Fargo Copper Cactus ceremony in 2002.

During his tenure, AGM has been recognized as Lockheed Martin’s 2000 Supplier of the Year, the Tucson Chamber of Commerce’s 2002 Manufacturing Company of the Year, and the Governor’s (State of Arizona) 2005 Pioneering of Innovation winner, among many others. Most recently, AGM was recognized as America's Best Small Business of 2009 by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In addition, AGM has appeared in the annual Inc5000 list as one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. for the last three years.

Howard was married to Beth Nebel Stewart, his wife of 18 years, who passed away of cancer in April 2005.  Howard has two sons, Clayton, 21, and Russell, 19.

He is an avid cyclist and enjoys participating in road bike races and mountain bike activities. He also enjoys hiking and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, with friends in 2011. In addition, he competes as a ballroom dancer at the silver level.

Howard is currently serving as the Vice Chair for the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona Campaign Cabinet, 2011/2012.

Howard is available for speaking engagements in community organizations. If you're interested in having Howard speak at your event, please e-mail Tara Turek at tturek@agmcontainer.com.

• April 2012:  Presented at a Lunch ‘n Learn meeting
  Topic: How to easily run a successful Gold level United Way campaign and how to be a United Way Pacesetter
  

• March 2012:  Presented at Pima Community College
  Topic: Managing Organizational Change
  

• January 2012:  Presented at a Lunch ‘n Learn meeting
  Topic: How to easily run successful Gold and Platinum-level United Way campaigns

• November 2011:  Presented at a Lunch ‘n Learn meeting
  Topic: How to easily run successful Gold-level United Way campaigns

• May 2011: AGM celebrates 20 years without a layoff, a rare occasion in today’s business environment.  "Tucson firm celebrates 20 years with no layoffs"
  

• April 2011:  Presented at the annual NIPHLE Conference
  Topic:  The Transformational Power of Information Technology in Government Procurement

• March 2011:  Presented at a meeting of the California Chapter of the National ESOP Association
  Topic:  A year in the life of an ESOP

• November 2010:  Presented at a monthly United Way Campaign Cabinet meeting
  Topic:  How to run successful United Way company campaigns

• March 2010:  Presented at the annual NIPHLE Conference
  Topic:  How Innovative Management best supports the needs of the war fighter
  

• October 2009: Intended for the California/Western ESOP Conference, but never presented.
  Topic:  Using ESOPs as a Marketing Tool

• July 2009: Speaker at the Eller School of Business (University of Arizona)
  Topic: Selection and Implementation of an ERP System:  One Company’s Many Mistakes and Lessons Learned
  

• June 2009: Panelist for the Metropolitan Pima Alliance
  Topic: Employment Issues
  

• May 2009: Panelist at Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords's Healthcare Townhall
  Topic: U.S. Healthcare

• May 2009: Panelist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Summit
  Topic: Trade Agreements

• December 2009: Testimony at the State Legislature for the Joint Legislative Budget Committee
  Topic: Research & Development tax credits

• October 2008: Presenter at Hesston College
  Topic: Managing organizational change
  

• November 2007: Presenter at the Eller School of Business (University of Arizona)
  Topic: Managing organizational change

• May 2005: Presenter for the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE)
  Topic: Transitioning from a family-owned business to an ESOP and how those changes promoted significant growth

• February 2003: Speaker for SCORE
  Topic: Business principles to help your company prosper and grow

• April 2002: Presenter for the National Institute of Packaging, Handling and Logistics Engineers (NIPHLE)
  Topic: Packaging for the 20-year "ready for use" requirement