Christopher Paul Ilitch (born June 2, 1965) is president and chief executive officer (CEO) of

Ilitch Holdings, Inc. Ilitch Holdings, Inc. is an American holding company established in 1999 to provide all companies owned by Mike and Marian Ilitch with professional and technical services. Its privately held businesses include Little Caesars Pizza, the National H ...

, a holding company that provides services to businesses that were founded or purchased by

Mike Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and docume ...

and

Marian Ilitch Marian Bayoff Ilitch (born January 7, 1933) is an American billionaire businesswoman, and the co-founder of Little Caesars Pizza with her late husband, Mike Ilitch. As of March 2018, Ilitch was one of the world's seven richest women, according t ...

. Ilitch companies include

Little Caesars Pizza Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

Olympia Entertainment Olympia Entertainment is an American sports and entertainment company headquartered in the Fox Theatre in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. Olympia is a division of Ilitch Holdings, and owned by Marian Ilitch. It owns or manages the Detroit Red Wings, ...

MotorCity Casino Hotel MotorCity Casino Hotel is a casino and hotel in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It was opened in December 1999 and is one of three casino hotels in the city. There are four hotels in the Detroit–Windsor area, including the Ontario-owned Caes ...

, the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

, the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

, and numerous real estate holdings. In 2018, the organization's total combined revenue was $3.8 billion. Through Ilitch Holdings, Ilitch is chairman and CEO of the Detroit Tigers, and

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, president, and CEO of the Detroit Red Wings.

Early life

Ilitch is the youngest son of

Mike Ilitch Michael Ilitch Sr. (July 20, 1929 – February 10, 2017) was an American entrepreneur, founder and owner of the international fast food franchise Little Caesars Pizza. He owned the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League and Detroit Tig ...

and

. His siblings are

Denise Ilitch Denise Ilitch (born November 1955) is a Detroit-area businessperson, lawyer, and member of the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan. Ilitch was rumored to be a Democratic Party candidate for Governor of Michigan in 2010, after having me ...

, Ronald "Ron" Tyrus Ilitch, Michael C. Ilitch Jr., Lisa M. Ilitch Murray, Atanas Ilitch (born Thomas Ilitch), and Carole M. Ilitch. He is the former brother-in-law of sports executive

Jim Lites James R. Lites (born 1953 in Pentwater, Michigan) is an American sports executive who currently serves as CEO and alternate governor of the Dallas Stars of the NHL. He was formerly the president of Tom Hicks, Hicks Sports Marketing Group, and as su ...

. Ilitch attended high school at

Cranbrook Kingswood Cranbrook Schools is a private, PK–12 preparatory school located on a campus in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The schools comprise a co-educational elementary school, a middle school with separate schools for boys and girls, and a co-education ...

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Bloomfield Hills is a small city (5.04 sq. miles) in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit and is approximately northwest of Downtown Detroit. Except a small southern border with the city of Bir ...

, where he was captain of the baseball team, and a member of the 1983 state championship hockey team. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1987.

Career

Ilitch worked a short time at IBM before joining his family's business. He started managing a Little Caesars location in

Walled Lake, Michigan Walled Lake is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 6,999 at the 2010 census. The city is bordered by Commerce Township on the north and the city of Novi on the south. As a western suburb of Metro Detroit, ...

, and later managing several stores in the

Chicago area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hint ...

before returning to Detroit. In 2000, Ilitch and his sister

were named co-presidents of Ilitch Holdings. Denise resigned in 2004, and Christopher was named sole CEO. As president and CEO, Ilitch leads and provides oversight to the Ilitch companies, including

, Blue Line Distribution, the

, the

, Olympia Development of Michigan (real estate), Little Caesars Pizza Kit Fundraising Program, and Champion Foods (food manufacturing). The organization also has a joint venture interest in

313 Presents 313 Presents is a live entertainment company based in Detroit. 313 Presents promotes and produces concerts, theatrical productions, sporting events and family shows at six venues across southeast Michigan including Little Caesars Arena, Fox Theatre ...

. Additionally, Christopher's mother

owns

. Under Major League Baseball rules, an owner or officer of a baseball club cannot own or operate a casino.

Bob DuPuy Robert A. DuPuy (born c. 1947) is a lawyer and former President and was Chief Operating Officer of Major League Baseball (MLB). He assumed both titles on March 7, 2002. Prior to joining Major League Baseball in 1998, he was a partner and managemen ...

, baseball’s chief operating officer, stated in 2006 that the arrangement was permissible, as Marian has no stake in the Tigers, and Christopher has no stake in the casino. Ilitch has his name engraved on the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

as a member of team management for the Red Wings NHL Championships in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Civic roles

Ilitch is chairman of Ilitch Charities. He serves on the board of directors for

Business Leaders for Michigan Business Leaders for Michigan is a private, non-profit organization based in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Originally formed in 1970 as the Detroit Renaissance, the organization was reconstituted in 2009 as Business Leaders for Michigan with ...

, the Downtown Detroit Partnership, and the Detroit Economic Club. Ilitch is also a member of the Detroit chapter of the

Young Presidents' Organization YPO (formerly Young Presidents' Organization) is an American-based worldwide leadership community of chief executives with approximately 29,000 members in more than 130 countries, according to the organization's 2019 YPO international fact sheet. ...

. Ilitch has served on the host committees for major sporting events held in Detroit, including the

2009 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2009 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament in which 65 schools competed to determine the national champion of the men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2008–09 basketball ...

, the

2005 Major League Baseball All-Star Game The 2005 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 76th playing of the midseason exhibition baseball game between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game wa ...

, and

Super Bowl XL Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion f ...

. Along with

William Clay Ford Jr. William Clay Ford Jr. (born May 3, 1957) is an American businessman, serving as executive chairman of Ford Motor Company. The great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, Ford joined the board in 1988 and has served as chairman since January 19 ...

, he served as co-chair for the 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament held at

Ford Field Ford Field is a domed American football stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It primarily serves as the home of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), as well as the annual Quick Lane Bowl college football bowl game, state champ ...

in Detroit.

Personal life

He and his wife, Kelle, have three children and reside in metro Detroit. Ilitch remains an avid hockey player and competes in an adult league in the

Metro Detroit The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. State of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and its surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the ...

area. Ilitch is a

third generation Third generation may refer to: * ''Third Generation'' (album), a 1982 album by Hiroshima * ''The Third Generation'' (1920 film), an American drama film directed by Henry Kolker * ''The Third Generation'' (1979 film), a West German black comedy b ...

Macedonian American Macedonian Americans ( mk, Македонски Американци, Makedonski Amerikanci) are Americans of ethnic Macedonian heritage. History Review Macedonian national feelings had shifted throughout the 20th century. According to the '' ...

, as both his mother and father were children of Macedonian immigrants to the Detroit area.

References

External links

Ilitch Holdings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilitch, Christopher 1965 births Living people Detroit Tigers executives Major League Baseball owners National Hockey League executives Ross School of Business alumni Ilitch family