Mayor Duggan, Chris Ilitch, Tom Gores at Pistons press conference
So who really is this 51-year-old son of Mike Ilitch who heads the big empire?
A feature on Christoper Ilitch in the Detroit Free Press quotes M. Roy Wilson, president of Wayne State University as saying:
“I think Chris is every bit as visionary as Mike was. He’s very understated. He doesn’t have airs about him at all. But he’s very, very effective. And I think he’s very passionate as his father was, passionate for his city.”
Al Avila, general manager of the family-owned Detroit Tigers, concurs.
“He’s a very intelligent businessman,” Avila said of Christopher this month. “He’s very organized, very disciplined. He knows what he’s doing. So he’s one of those guys that, when he takes the task, he learns everything he has to learn about it and then he moves forward."
Reporter John Gallagher writes:
The sixth of seven kids born to Mike and Marian Ilitch, Christopher Ilitch has earned a reputation as a careful, deliberative business leader who takes a data-driven, analytical approach to solving problems and who won’t be rushed in his decision making.
