A leg up and a step ahead: The Stewart Family Scholarship
Built from one alumnus’s lived experience, the scholarship helps VCU students keep pace with coursework and career steps.
By Susie Burtch
The Vision
Alan Stewart (B.S. ’76) came from an economically disadvantaged family. His mother died when he was 16; his father when he was 19. Suddenly, he was on his own, living on a small stipend from his parents’ pensions.
“It caused me to focus,” he said. “The only ‘aid’ I got was Mom gave me her strength of will. So, I worked with moving companies during summers and break, and I threw myself into the last two years of college. I wasn’t the smartest, but I was the hardest working.” In 1976, Stewart graduated with a B.S. in accounting and earned his CPA credential that same year.
Fast-forward through an illustrious career and a full life. He and his wife adopted two daughters from China. He took three companies public, served as CFO at eight companies and recently retired from Peraton.
“Because of losing my family and having no support, I always felt inferior to rich, middle-class kids,” he said. “And so, I am heart and soul into giving to help students who need it. Education is the great equalizer. I love seeing these kids achieve things they never thought possible. And when you help them, you help whole generations of families.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Laura Kottkamp, Ed.D, CEO of the VCU School of Business Foundation.
“Alan so clearly has a soft spot for students who may need extra help. He’s transparent about the fact that he was the beneficiary of warm-hearted professors and people who cared and that the education he got at VCU really let him shine.”
Donors give to VCU for a variety of reasons, she said. Sometimes companies want public recognition or a recruiting advantage, “but I have certainly seen that Alan gives because he loves the idea of saying thanks to VCU in the form of a gift.”
The Reality
If history repeats itself, credit is due to Stewart. Recipients of his endowed scholarship— Arthur “AJ” Etienne (B.S. ’25) in 2024-25 and Amy Byers (B.S. ’26) in 2025-26—echo his work ethic and determination. Even at this early stage, both of them are on their way to success in their field.
Initially, Etienne struggled to find his path. He worked in the restaurant industry after high school, cared for a mother with serious health issues and spent two years at Northern Virgina Community College. “It took awhile,” he said, “but all those years gave me a good work ethic.”
Upon transferring to VCU, he became active in the Beta Alpha Psi, the international honor organization for financial information students and professionals, was named Student of the Year for accounting and used his Stewart Family Scholarship to ease financial pressure. “My senior year, that money allowed me to put more time into the fraternity, which was my way of giving back to students who were coming up behind me.” Now studying for the CPA exam, Etienne has already parlayed a 2025 summer internship into a full-time job offer with Deloitte beginning in fall 2026.
As this year’s scholarship recipient, Byers followed a similar, rocky path, working five years in retail and attending community college before enrolling at VCU.
“Getting a scholarship like this is all about peace of mind,” she said. “I’m taking a full course load of 15 credits and I’m a TA this coming semester, so finally I can just focus on school. I had a really good time this summer interning at Virginia Information Technologies Agency, so my big-picture aim has become to do work that’s meaningful. I want to make a difference. Whether I end up in the hard accounting or data analysis side, I want to help make people’s lives easier. But for now, what I’m really looking forward to is feeling more relaxed about the financial picture during my senior year. It’s welcome peace of mind. It’s going to make my life easier.”
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