An All-Star Evening

Please join us as we honor Steve Hartman with the 2026 Robert D. and Billie Ray Pillar of Character Award.

Featuring
The 2026 Kindness 101 Teacher of the Year

Friday, April 17, 2026
Ron Pearson Center, West Des Moines, IA

Choose Your Package

All-Star Patron—$5,000

  • Eight tickets with reserved seating
  • Company/organization logo recognition on reserved table signage
  • Company/organization logo recognition group listing with other All-Star Patrons the night of the event including:
    • Banner located in venue entryway
    • Video screens
    • Printed program
  • Company/organization name recognition included on the All-Star Evening website 

 
All-Star Supporter—$2,500

  • Eight tickets with reserved seating
  • Company/organization name recognition on reserved table signage

Individual Tickets—$325

Young Professionals Tickets—$200
Ages 35 and under

Contact Emily Brown at 515-271-2932 for more information or to reserve your seats. 

About Steve Hartman

Steve Hartman has been a CBS News correspondent since 1996.  Hartman shares moving stories about the extraordinary people he meets in his weekly feature segment “On the Road” — which airs Fridays on the CBS Evening News and repeats on CBS Sunday Morning.  “On the Road” is modeled after the long-running series of the same name originally reported by America’s greatest TV storyteller, the late Charles Kuralt.

Hartman’s stories are also used in tens of thousands of classrooms to teach kindness and character as part of his “Kindness 101” initiative, in partnership with The Ray Center and CHARACTER COUNTS!

In 2020, Hartman co-founded “Taps Across America” – which has become a Memorial Day tradition.  Every year thousands of buglers and trumpet players stand on their porches and patios to play taps in commemoration of the holiday.  

Hartman is also known for his series, “Everybody Has a Story.” He proved the adage by tossing a dart at a map of America and then randomly picking an interview subject from the local phone book.  Debuting in 1998 and continuing for the next seven years, Hartman produced more than 120 profiles of everyday Americans.

Hartman has won dozens of prestigious broadcast journalism awards.  Most notably, he has received an Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award, five national Emmy awards and 15 national Edward R. Murrow awards, including a record 12 citations for best writing.

Previously Hartman was a columnist for 60 Minutes Wednesday and correspondent for two primetime CBS News magazines, Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel (1997-98) and Coast to Coast (1996-97).  Before that he was a feature reporter at KCBS-TV, the CBS owned station in Los Angeles (1994-98), WABC-TV in New York (1991-94) and KSTP-TV in Minneapolis (1987-91).  He began his career in broadcast journalism at WTOL-TV in Toledo, Ohio as a news intern and general assignment reporter (1984-87).

Hartman graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1985 with a degree in broadcast journalism. He is married with three children and lives in Catskill, New York.

Special Thanks to Our 2026 Event Partners

Title Partner
Reception and Dinner Partner
Auction Partner
Corporate Partners
Gartner Family Foundation
Willis Automotive
Six Pillar Partners
Wine Partner
Catalyst Ridge Wines