Dan Gilbert Chairman and Founder, Quicken Loans Inc. Majority Owner, Cleveland Cavaliers
Dan Gilbert is Chairman and Founder of Quicken Loans, the nation's largest online home lender.
Dan also is majority owner of the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team and operator of the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition, he led the purchase of an American Hockey League (AHL) franchise renamed the Lake Erie Monsters that began play in Fall 2007 at Quicken Loans Arena.
Quicken Loans, Inc. closed $19 billion in home loan volume in calendar year 2007. Quicken Loans has been named a "Best Place to Work" by FORTUNE Magazine six consecutive years, ranking as high as #2, and has been placed #1 or #2 on Computerworld's list of "100 Best Places to Work in Technology" for the past four years.
Dan founded Rock Financial in 1985 as a 22-year old first-year law student. Rock Financial grew into one of the largest independent mortgage banks in the country. In 1998, the company went public in an IPO led by Bear Stearns, Inc. In January 1999, the company launched its Internet strategy which quickly positioned itself as the leader in online retail mortgages. In January 2000, software maker Intuit purchased Rock Financial and the national Web business was renamed "Quicken Loans." With Dan staying on as CEO, Quicken Loans became the leading national provider of home loans on the Internet. Quicken Loans has gone on to earn "Best of the Web" accolades from Forbes, Money and PC Magazines.
In 2002, Gilbert led a small group of private investors and purchased Quicken Loans Inc., back from Intuit and has been privately held since that time. The company retains all rights to the 'Quicken Loans, Inc.' trademarks.
Dan became majority owner of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers in March 2005. In the two-and-a-half years he has owned the Cavaliers, he has led a complete overhaul of the front office, coaching staff, player personnel, and game presentation.
In addition, the ownership group has invested $27 million in the "Quicken Loans Arena" (known as "The Q"), including new seats, an HD-quality JumboTron, video and sound systems, arena graphics, signage, security, player locker rooms, suite upgrades and administrative offices, as well as the development of a new $25 million player development and training center named the Cleveland Clinic Courts.
In his second year of ownership, the Cavaliers won the Eastern Conference Championship by beating the Detroit Pistons, making their way to the NBA Finals for the first time in the 37-year history of the franchise.
Dan's companies employee more than 4,000 people. Dan and his partners also operate and invest in several consumer-based, technology-centered businesses, including: online promotions company ePrize (eprize.com), based in Pleasant Ridge, Mich.; Fathead LLC (fathead.com) in Livonia, Mich.; Veritix (veritix.com) in Cleveland and Boston-based Xenith LLC (Xenith.com).
Fathead LLC exclusively licenses and sells a new category of product for the true sports enthusiast. A "Fathead" is a life-size, colorful, vinyl wall graphic of popular sports stars from the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB in an action pose, as well as pro and college team helmets and logos, in addition to NASCAR racecars and Hollywood entertainment characters.
Veritix has created technology and processes that replace physical tickets for large sports and entertainment events with an electronic approach, and offers a secure, online marketplace for transferring and selling tickets in a digital format. The Cavaliers are the first team in professional sports to use this new technology.
Xenith LLC has developed an innovative helmet technology that reduces the risk and severity of concussions and other traumatic brain injuries.
Dan was Rawlings Sporting Goods' largest shareholder and was instrumental in effecting the sale of Rawlings to K2 in March 2003.
Gilbert is a founding partner in private equity group RockBridge Equity. The partnership invests in growing businesses in the financial services, Internet technology, consumer direct marketing, and the sports and entertainment sectors.
Gilbert also is an investor and financier with Rock Companies (rockcompanies.com) in residential and commercial real estate developments in several states.
Other significant investments include Xeko (xeko.com), a Seattle-based children's media property that includes a trading game, planned cartoon series, movies and licensing of a playing card game featuring threatened species in 34 environmental "hot spots" in the world.
Dan recently launched Bizdom U (bizdom.com) in Detroit. This non-profit academy trains, mentors and finances young entrepreneurs and their start-up businesses in the city of Detroit. Bizdom U's mission is to create successful businesses, jobs, growth and wealth in large urban cities.
Through Rock Financial, Dan also was the lead sponsor of Rock Financial JA Finance Park in downtown Detroit, a program that teaches school age children about money and finance.
Gilbert serves on the board of the Cleveland Clinic; the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC; and the Children's Tumor Foundation (ctf.org) in New York City.
Dan has been the keynote speaker at Harvard Business School, the University of Michigan and the national NAACP conference, among other organizations.
He is a frequent guest on CNBC's business programs including "guest hosting" CNBC's Morning Call as well as numerous appearances on ESPN, CNN and FOX.
Gilbert earned his bachelor's degree from Michigan State University and his law degree from Wayne State University. He has received the "Entrepreneur of the Year" award from Ernst & Young and has been inducted into the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame.
Dan resides in Michigan with his wife and their 5 children.