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, 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.

Thereafter, Howard’s entrepreneurial spark ignited as he decided to open two ice cream stores in Tucson and Tempe in 1984. 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 he then 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.

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, 16, and Russell, 14.

Howard is an avid cyclist and enjoys participating in road bike races and mountain bike activities. (At age 17, he rode his bike 1,700 miles from St. Louis to Maine.) He enjoys hiking and ballroom dancing.