Dan Gilbert owner of Cleveland Cavaliers Exploring the Frontiers of Happiness

Dan Gilbert is like a superman doing many things right now and started at the age of 22, when he founded Rock Financial in 1985 as a 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. He is a Chairman of Quicken Loans, the nation’s largest online home lender.

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.


Quicken Loans became nation's largest online retail mortgage lender when closing $15 billion in home loan volume in the first half of 2009 and the fifth largest retail mortgage lender in the United States.

Dan also is majority owner of the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team since March 2005 and operator of the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. 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.

In his ownership, the Cavaliers won the Eastern Conference Championship by beating the Detroit Pistons, advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time in the 37-year history of the franchise. The team is one of only four current NBA teams (Dallas, Phoenix and San Antonio) to have four straight seasons of 45 or more regular season wins.

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 in Cleveland, Ohio and Boston-based Xenith LLC

Dan recently launched a non-profit academy Bizdom U (bizdom.com) in Detroit with a mission to create successful businesses, jobs, growth and wealth in large urban cities. This academy trains, mentors and finances young entrepreneurs and their start-up businesses in the city of Detroit.

Gilbert serving on the many board of medicals relating to children like, the Children Hospital of Michigan Foundation; the Cleveland Clinic; the Children National Medical Center in Washington, DC; and the Children Tumor Foundation (ctf.org) in New York City.




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