Dan Gilbert (businessman)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Daniel "Dan" Gilbert is the Chairman and founder of Rock Financial and Quicken Loans Inc. Dan Gilbert is also the majority owner of the National Basketball Association's Cleveland Cavaliers (having purchased them in March 2005). He then purchased the American Hockey League's Utah Grizzlies and brought them to Cleveland, and renamed them the Lake Erie Monsters. He also owns Fathead, a sports themed wall decal company and is a major investor in ePrize which is an internet promotion company based in Pleasant Ridge, Michigan.
Gilbert founded Rock Financial Corporation in 1985 with his younger brother, Gary Gilbert, childhood friend Lindsay Gross, and Ron Berman. Dan was a first-year law student. Gilbert, then 23 years old, served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman. Rock Financial grew into one of the largest independent mortgage banks in the country. In May 1998, Gilbert took the company public. Initially a brick and mortar lender, the company launched “Rockloans.com” in January of 1999, which quickly positioned itself as the leader in online retail mortgage lenders.
In December 1999, Intuit Inc. (makers of market leading software TurboTax and Quicken) purchased Rock Financial. The national web operation was renamed "Quicken Loans" and grew substantially as the leading provider of direct-to-consumer home loans on the Internet, offering mortgages in all 50 states. Gilbert remained at the company as its CEO.
In July 2002, 30 months from the sale of Rock Financial, Gilbert led a small group of private investors and purchased the Quicken Loans subsidiary back from Intuit.
Gilbert was named one of the Forbes 400 in the magazine’s 2006 rankings. He did not make the list in 2007.
Gilbert received an undergraduate degree from Michigan State University, a law degree from Wayne State University and is a member of the Michigan State Bar.
