MEET MIKE
Mike Gibbons was born in Cleveland and grew up in the working-class suburb of Parma, Ohio. His father, Gene Gibbons, was a high school teacher and wrestling coach. Mike played football at St. Ignatius High School and Kenyon College, and went to work early – first with a paper route, then as a landscaper, later on construction crews and the factory floor.
After earning degrees from Kenyon, Case Western, and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Mike Gibbons went into the world of business.
In 1989, at the age of 37, Mike Gibbons launched his own company. That company became Brown Gibbons Lang & Company. In an industry dominated by prominent New York and Chicago firms, BGL used its Ohio roots to help dozens of homegrown Ohio companies expand and add jobs, providing strategic and financial advice and much-needed capital. Mike Gibbons has also served as Managing Partner of the Cleveland Crunch professional soccer franchise, Co-Owner of Cheboygan Tap & Tool, and Co-Owner of Northern Lake Properties. Mike Gibbons has been honored with numerous awards for his business successes, including Entrepreneur of the Year for northeastern Ohio from Ernst & Young in 2002, along with former partner Scott Lang.
Mike Gibbons served as Ohio Finance Co-Chair for Donald J. Trump for President in 2016 and gave even more money to the Trump re-election campaign in 2020.
In June of 2017, Mike launched a campaign for U.S. Senate. Starting with zero name identification, he went on to win 38 counties and 32 percent of the vote in the Republican primary.
Mike and his wife Diane Gibbons raised five children. Mike coached youth sports and still serves as the color commentator for “Catholic High School Game of the Week” football games. He is active in the Cleveland non-profit community, serving on the Board of Trustees for Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, the Visiting Committee for Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management, and the Board of Visitors of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He has previously served as Vice Chair of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, and on the Board of Trustees for Ohio-Israel Chamber of Commerce, the Finance Advisory Board for the University of Akron College of Business, the Board of Directors for North Coast Professional Sports LLC, the Board of Trustees of Magnificat and St. Ignatius High School, and the Board of Trustees of the Great Lakes Theater Festival.
*Use of military rank, job title, and photographs in uniform do not imply endorsement from the department of defense or the Navy.
