Tom Gores is the Chairman and CEO of Platinum Equity. He oversees more than 25 companies with $6 billion in assets. Tom Gores appears on both the Forbes list of the World’s Billionaires as well as the Forbes list of Richest Americans and is among the youngest individuals ever to appear on either.

On June 1, 2011, Tom Gores and Platinum Equity became the owners of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Detroit Pistons.

He was born in 1964 into a practicing Catholic family in Nazareth, Israel. His father is of Greek descent and his mother of Lebanese descent. In 1968, the family moved to Genesee, Michigan. While a student at Genesee High School, Gores played defensive back in football, middle infielder in baseball and guard in basketball. He received a scholarship to attend Michigan State University, where he graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science degree in construction management.

Gores founded Platinum Equity in 1995. He made Platinum Equity one of the premiere private equity firms in the world, recognized as one of Forbes’s “Largest Private Companies” within just four years of being founded.

Top business publications have recognized Platinum Equity as one of the most important private companies in America, most recently ranking 25th on the 2013 Forbes list of America’s Largest Private Companies and #5 on the 2013 Los Angeles Business Journal list of LA’s Largest Private Equity Companies.

Before Platinum Equity, he was an active investor in smaller businesses. When not serving in his role as Chairman and CEO of Platinum Equity, Mr. Gores is on either a soccer field or a basketball court coaching youth teams, applying the same principles of hard work and inspiration that he does to his business. He also maintains active interests in the arts, serving on the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Board of Trustees and pursuing interests in music.

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