panelist
Daniel Gilbert
Majority Owner, Cleveland Cavaliers
Founder & Chairman, Quicken Loans

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

Quicken Loans had its best year ever in 2009, closing more than $25 billion in home loan volume. The company employs nearly 3,000 people and has been ranked in the top 30 of FORTUNE magazine’s survey of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” seven consecutive years (ranking as high as number two). His family of companies includes, among others, Veritix, Fathead and Xenith.

Gilbert became majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers in March 2005 and has led a transformation of the franchise. The ownership group invested $30 million to make Quicken Loans Arena ( The “Q”) a state-of-the-art sports venue. In 2007, the Cavaliers advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in the franchise’s 37-year history, and the 2008-09 squad led the NBA by winning a club-record 66 games.

Gilbert serves on the boards of several charitable foundations. In 2007, he launched Bizdom U in Detroit, a nonprofit boot camp that trains, mentors and finances entrepreneurs and their start-up businesses in Detroit.