Daniel Gilbert
From Hoopedia
Dan Gilbert is majority owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team and operator of the Quicken Loans Arena. In addition, he recently led the purchase of an American Hockey League (AHL) franchise that will begin play in the fall of 2007 at The Q.
Dan became majority owner of the Cavaliers in March, 2005. In the short period of time he has owned the team, he has led a complete overhaul of the basketball front office, coaching staff, player personnel, and game presentation.
In addition, he has led the ownership group’s $30 million investment in renovations at the Quicken Loans Arena. These investments include over 20,000 new seats, state-of-the-art scoreboards, video systems, sound systems, new lighting technology, arena graphics, signage, security, player locker rooms, new partner entertainment facilities, as well as brand new administrative offices for the entire Cavalier and arena business teams.
Dan has also led the investment and planning of a new $20-25 million player development center, named [[Cleveland Clinic Courts]]. The facility is currently under construction and is located in nearby Independence, Ohio. It will provide the Cavaliers with the highest quality and most advanced year-round practice and training center in the NBA.
In Dan’s first full year of ownership, the Cavaliers posted the sixth best record in the NBA at 50–32. The team returned to the playoffs for the first time since 1998, won a playoff series for the first time since 1993, and nearly upset the heavily-favored Detroit Pistons in the second round, taking the Pistons to the seventh and final game of the series.
Most importantly, Dan has instilled a championship caliber culture throughout the entire Cavaliers organization. This unique anti-bureaucratic, common-sense, people empowering approach is the foundation for the rejuvenation of the franchise and arena.
The fan base and corporate community have responded strongly with a high level of confidence in the direction of the team on and off the court. The Cavaliers currently rank near the top of the league in revenue per capita, making them one of the most successful business operations in the NBA.
But by Dan’s own admission, the organization should not be considered 100% successful until the Cavaliers deliver an NBA championship to the fans, partners and supporters of the team throughout Ohio and beyond.
Gilbert is also Chairman and Founder of the nation’s largest online home mortgage lender, Quicken Loans, Inc.
Quicken Loans recently opened a new Internet Home Lending Center in downtown Cleveland. Once fully operational, the nearly 50,000 square foot operation will house 350 new high-paying mortgage banking jobs which are expected to create more than $30 million in annual compensation for its Cleveland staff. Quicken Loans Inc. is forecasting to close $18 billion in residential mortgage loans in 2006.
Dan’s companies employ more than 5,000 people. Quicken Loans Inc. has been ranked a Top 15 “Best Place to Work” in America by FORTUNE magazine for the past three years and ranked the #1 place to work for technology employees in the United States by Computerworld Magazine two years in a row in 2005 and 2006.
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 May of 1998, the company went public on the NASDAQ exchange in an IPO led by Bear Stearns, Inc.
