37-year-old Mat Ishbia is CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), and while that may sound impressive enough, he also played basketball at Michigan State University for three years and went to three Final Fours.
Now, Ishbia’s years of dedication to basketball have helped him lead his billion-dollar mortgage company.
Time with Mr. March
Ishbia played guard for Michigan State’s winningest basketball team for three seasons. If that wasn’t amazing enough, he stayed on after graduation and spent his fifth year working beside the infamous Coach Tom Izzo, who has the most wins in school history.
“He might be the best coach in the world,” says Ishbia, who made the 1998-99 team as a walk-on.
Izzo has been the head coach for the Michigan State Spartans men’s basketball team since 1995. His teams have earned invitations to 19 consecutive NCAA tournaments, which, combined with his tournament success, earned him the nickname “Mr. March.”
So, spending a year as an assistant coach with Izzo was a dream for Ishbia. “I learned the ‘why’ behind everything,” he says. And, while he wanted to stay in athletics, it was Izzo who said, “you can do bigger things in business world.”
Integrity first
Ishbia’s father had a wholesale mortgage business and so he went there for what he thought would be a short-term stint.
“I got paid $18,000 and had to take faxes off the machine and walk them over to the underwriters,” says Ishbia. Sure, he got the Student Athlete President’s Award at Michigan State, but his dad didn’t care. His father made him start at the bottom like everyone else.
“But I learned every job,” says Ishbia.
That was fourteen years ago. Now, he is CEO.
And while his father has…