Eli Broad is an American businessperson and humanitarian who built up KB Home, a housebuilding company, and Sun America which is an insurance corporation. He becomes the only person to build up two Fortune 500 corporations in different productions.
He is famous for his unusual ways of leading business, he has made an image for being “totally unreasonable”. He credits his difficult ways for his remarkable success which he believes that he would never have accomplished if had he chosen to stick with the recognized conventions in the business.
Personal Biography: Eli Broad
Childhood and Early Life:
He was born on June 6, 1933, in the Bronx, in New York City, U.S, to Lithuanian Jewish refugee parents as their only single child. His family was of the unassertive mean as his father worked as a house artist, and his mother worked as making dresses for people. The family shift to Detroit, Michigan when Eli was just six years old. He joined Detroit Central High School and completed graduation in 1951. He shifts on to the Michigan State University, doing well in accounting with an insignificant in economics. His graduation is completed in 1954. As the college student, he worked out at a number of jobs which also include selling footwear’s of women’s and he also worked as a drill press worker at Packard Motor. He also developed the identifications of Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
Career life:
Eli Broad started his work as an accountant when he completed his studies. Also, he taught night classes as an assistant professor of accounting at the Detroit Institute of Technology in the year 1956. After he worked as an accountant for some time he then decided to open his personal business which is an accounting firm. Eli Broad and Kaufman got alongside well and they had decided to team up with one another and build houses together in 1957. Broad rented some money from the parents of his wife’s to pay towards his share of the capital venture and the pair founded the homebuilding business Kaufman & Broad which is later named to KB Home.
The company after that became so successful, designing as well as building up affordable homes for mainly first-time house buyers. Their designs were advanced and budget effective, and within almost two years Kaufman & Broad had built up 600 homes in the Detroit suburbs. In the year of 1962, the company was expanded to Arizona, and also a year later it is expanded to California. Broad developed Sun Life Insurance Company of America, which is a family-owned insurance enterprise, in 1971. He then continued as the CEO of SunAmerica till 2000.
Eli Broad Family:
Eli Broad is married to Edythe Lawson. They got married in the year 1954 and have two children. He was only 21 years old when he got married and his wife’s age was 18 years old. He is the father of 2 children. Eli and Edythe had two cute sons named as Jeffrey who is born in 1956, and another one is Gary, who born after three years of Jeffrey.
Achievements and Recognition:
Along with the Donald Kaufman, Eli Broad established the homebuilding corporation Kaufman & Broad in Detroit which has subsequently built over 550,000 houses. The enterprise was a Fortune 500 corporation from 2000 through 2008 and it was named “Most Appreciated Homebuilder” by the ‘Fortune Magazine’ in the year 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2011.
He was named as Chevalier in National Order of the Legion of Honour by the Republic of France in the year 1994. He also received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in the year of 2007. In 2009, he was privileged with the David Rockefeller Reward by the Museum of Modern Art.
Net Worth
As of 2015, Eli Broad has an appraised net worth of about US$7.1 billion.