Dewayne Stephens is retiring, effective June 30, after three decades with Boy Scouts of America, 10 of which were as East Texas Area Council Scout Executive/CEO, serving 17 counties.

Scouting is alive and thriving.

“Times have changed, but they’ve always changed. Scouting is 110 years old,” Dewayne Stephens said. “Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, it doesn’t change. Those aren’t just mantras. They’re beliefs.”

The 12 points of the Scout Law represent a Scout’s purpose and guiding principles. The remaining six principles are obedience, cheerfulness, thrifty, bravery, cleanliness and reverence.

Stephens’ first introduction to scouting was as a Boy Scout in his childhood. His family moved often, so he fell out of the program but was always interested in outdoor activities.

Thirty years ago, an opportunity fell at Stephens’ feet, and he gained a career in scouting.

In anticipation of graduating with a business degree in human resource management from Tarleton State University, and before the internet, Stephens visited a room lined with binders of information on employment opportunities to send a letter of inquiry to potential employers.

“Every other book in there was black or blue except this red one,” Stephens said. “I couldn’t reach it, so I was jumping and tapping. I’m trying to get it, and they all fell off, every one of them. I turned to pick it up, and that red one, believe it or not, had fallen open on the first page, and it said, ‘You can be a professional scouter.’”

Stephens is retiring, effective June 30, after three decades with Boy Scouts of America, 10 of which were as East Texas Area Council Scout Executive/CEO, serving 17 counties.

He is retiring to be close to his children and grandchildren in Alabama and is looking forward to building a house and working outdoors as a farmer and rancher.

Before landing in Tyler, he started as the Chisholm Trail Council district executive in 1993; later, he worked with the Comanche Trail Council before becoming the Circle Ten Council finance director and serving six years for the Black Warrior Council in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

As the East Texas CEO, Stephens has overseen the sale of multiple properties, the redevelopment of the Foster E. Murphy Scout Service Center and numerous capital improvements at the George W. Pirtle Scout Reservation.

“He has also helped keep local scouting vibrant through turbulent national dialogues around the Scouting program,” an East Texas Area Council press release stated. “In seven of the past nine years, total membership has grown in the East Texas Area Council.”

One of the critical functions of scout executives is to recruit volunteers and train them to work with children. Parents make the best scouting volunteers since scouting is a parent-child organization.

“Volunteers in scouting are the best in the world,” he said. “There’s no doubt with the amount of time, energy and money they put into this organization. Scouting couldn’t happen without them. They are the worker bees of scouting.”

Under his leadership, the East Texas Area Council completed its Better Business Bureau accreditation and has received national awards, including President’s Growth Award, the Southern Region Diversity Award and multiple annual achievement recognitions.

The press release states that George W. Pirtle Scout Reservation has completed two five-year studies on sustainability, and BSA Territory 8 accredited it at the highest level. The council has diversified its revenue sources and operated with a balanced budget in all non-pandemic years.

The Council’s Executive Board appointed a selection committee to review the applicants for the CEO position and will announce Stephens’ successor in the next few weeks.

“I’ve done 30 years. I’ll be 60 in January. I have given my whole adult life to scouting, and I’m going to spend the rest of whatever God graces me with my kids and grandkids,” he said.