Glenn Stearns
Glenn Stearns (born 1963) is an American businessman, and the founder of Stearns Lending.[2] He is the star of the Discovery Channels's Undercover Billionaire and subsequent founder of Underdog BBQ in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Glenn Stearns | |
---|---|
Born | 1963 (age 56–57) |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Businessman |
Known for | founder of Stearns Lending |
Home town | Silver Spring, Maryland |
Net worth | $500,000,000 USD[1] |
Spouse(s) | Mindy Burbano |
Early life
Stearns was born in 1963 in Silver Spring, Maryland.[3] His father was a printer and his mother was a grocery store clerk and house cleaner. The family lived in a low-income apartment complex in the suburbs of Washington D.C.[4] Stearns was a socially adept child but struggled in school. He was diagnosed with dyslexia, but his parents kept this from him. He was humiliated when he failed the fourth grade.[5] Stearns' parents divorced when he was 17.[6]
Career
Stearns founded Stearns Lending in 1989.[7][2] He was chief executive officer (CEO) from its founding until May 2012 when Stearns named Brian Hale, former president and national production executive of MetLife Home Loans, as his successor.[8] Stearns Lending was the fifth-largest privately held mortgage lender in the US in 2013.[2]
Personal life
When Stearns was 14 years old, Stearns’ eldest child, Charlene, was born. Charlene’s mother is a woman named Kathy who was 17 at that time. Charlene now manages Glenn’s escrow company.
Apart from his eldest daughter Charlene, Stearns has three sons named Skyler, Colby, and Trevor and two daughters who often appear on Mindy's Instagram. Stearns also has two grandchildren.[9]
In October 2003, Stearns married Mindy Burbano, who was an entertainment reporter for Entertainment Tonight and KTLA in Los Angeles.[10] They live in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.[11]
In 2004, Stearns and Burbano appeared on the TBS reality TV show, The Real Gilligan's Island as "the millionaire and his wife", and he "won" the competition.[11] In 2014, he was diagnosed with cancer, which inspired him to do reality tv[12][13]. In 2019, the Discovery Channel TV show, Undercover Billionaire followed Stearns as he built a startup company from scratch.[11] During filming of the show he had a recurrence of cancer.[14]
References
- Tognini, Giacomo (13 September 2019). ""Undercover Billionaire" Glenn Stearns Is Not Actually A Billionaire". Forbes.
- Bill Quinnan (January 21, 2013). "Hard Times Yield Opportunities for Stearns Lending". OC Register.
- "2011 Horatio Alger Award Winner Glenn B. Stearns". horatioalger.org. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- "Glenn Stearns: The truth about the Undercover Billionaire". nickiswift.com. January 21, 2013.
- "Members – Horatio Alger Association". Retrieved 2019-09-25.
- Loveland, Mariel. "Glenn Stearns: The truth about the Undercover Billionaire". NickiSwift.com. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
- Jane Yu (August 21, 2015). "Stearns to Sell Majority Stake to Blackstone". Orange County Business Journal. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
- Jane Yu (May 7, 2012). "Hale New CEO for Stearns Lending". Orange County Business Journal. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
- August 6, Caroline John-Published; September 25, 2019 at 11:10 am | Last Updated; Am, 2019 at 1:21 (2019-08-06). "Glenn Stearns - Rags to Riches Round Two in Discovery's "Undercover Billionaire"". Earn The Necklace. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
- Colton, Kim (March 16, 2004). "Mindy Burbano and Glenn Stearns OCTOBER 11, 2003". Willamette Week. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- Owen, Rob (26 July 2019). "Tuned In: Broke billionaire builds business in Erie on Discovery Channel". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- McAlone, Nathan. "Discovery's 'Undercover Billionaire' explains how recovering from cancer inspired him to try and turn $100 into a million-dollar business in 90 days on TV". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
- ""I Looked at Cancer Kind Of Like Business" Glenn Stearns of "Undercover Billionaire" Says His Cancer Journey Inspired His New Show". SurvivorNet. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
- McAlone, Nathan. "What you didn't see on screen in Discovery's reality TV show 'Undercover Billionaire,' and what happened after the show ended". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-09-25.