Dan Gilbert is chairman and founder of Quicken Loans. He is also majority owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League, and operator of Quicken Loans Arena.

Quicken Loans is the nation’s largest online home lender and one of the 10 largest retail lenders overall. FORTUNE magazine, in its annual list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For,” has ranked Quicken Loans among the top 30 employers six consecutive years. Since becoming majority owner of the Cavaliers in March 2005, Gilbert has overhauled the franchise, including $27 million of upgrades to Quicken Loans Arena and the $25 million construction of the team’s state-of-the-art training center. In 2006-07, Gilbert’s second full season of ownership, the Cavaliers advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in the franchise’s 37-year history.

Gilbert and his partners operate and invest in several consumer-based, technology-centered businesses, including Fathead, maker of life-sized wall graphics, and Veritix/Flash Seats, which has created a digital ticketing, transfer and marketing system for sports and entertainment venues.

Gilbert earned his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State and his law degree from Wayne State. In 2008, he launched Bizdom U, an entrepreneurial academy that trains, mentors, finances and helps launch young entrepreneurs and their start-up businesses in Detroit.