Name: Charles Sted
Age: 46
Position: President, Aloha Council Boy Scouts of America
Education: B.A., M.B.A., University of Illinois
Pastime: Building model railroads
"Scouting is the cornerstone of my life," said Sted, president-elect of the Aloha Council Boy Scouts of America, which represents 30,000 boys and girls and 5,000 adult volunteers in Hawaii.
"Whatever success I have been able to enjoy is in some way related to my having been a Boy Scout, my pursuit of the Eagle rank and, finally, my work as an adult volunteer."
Sted, executive vice president of Bank of America Hawaii, has spent 19 of his 37 years as a BSA volunteer in Hawaii.
As president, Sted has set three primary goals.
"First, I'd like to increase awareness about the great things Scouting does to help youths develop good core values and leadership skills that will help them become responsible citizens," Sted said.
"Second, we need to make sure the Scouting program has the financial resources to continue," he added. "And third, we would like to renovate the Council Service Center (on Puiwa Road in Nuuanu) to better meet our needs."
The organization is called Boy Scouts of America, but it's also open to girls. BSA's program, however, is not associated with Girl Scouts.
"The girls enter our program through schools and the Explorer program," Sted said.
Sted, a Chicago native, calls Scouting the biggest and best gang in the United States.
"We'd like to encourage parents to think about the Boy Scout program if they are looking for a place where their child can learn good core values," Sted said. "We'd also like young people to know that Scouting is fun, a great adventure with lots of different activities."
As an adult volunteer, Sted has been the Aloha Council's treasurer for the past eight years. In 1989, he received the Silver Beaver Award, the highest honor for an adult volunteer in the BSA program.
Past Aloha Council presidents include Don Carroll, president of Oceanic Cablevision; John Henry Felix, William Paty, Charles Pietsch, George Cannon, C. Dudley Pratt, Herbert Richards and Fred Trotter.
Sted and his wife, the former Vivien Lee, are the parents of a 10-year-old daughter.
"I find the basic teachings of Scouting guides me every day," Sted said. "I always go back to the basic Scouting values to find out what to do with a difficult problem."