Jennifer Gilbert

After graduating from Michigan State University with a bachelor’s degree in interior design, Gilbert, 43, worked on a few residential projects before mostly putting it aside to marry Dan Gilbert, chairman and founder of Quicken Loans in Detroit, and raise their five children, ranging in age from 5 to 15. She also is working toward finding a cure for neurofibromatosis through the Gilbert Family Neurofibromatosis Institute at Children’s Memorial in Washington, D.C., and serving on the boards of various nonprofit organizations, including ORT America and the Israeli and Overseas Committee of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. When her youngest was approaching kindergarten age, she began itching to get her hands back into the design pot, so she collaborated on several multimillion-dollar projects as well as working on her own Franklin home. “I started thinking about how to make it more efficient. The whole concept of Doodle Home is to simplify the design process.” So Gilbert, as founder and CEO, teamed with Fernando Prieto, the company’s president, whose automotive background offers a fresh perspective to the interactive and immersive technology. They compiled a staff of 10. Doodle Home quickly moved from Quicken’s former Livonia offices to another Dan Gilbert purchase, Downtown Detroit’s Madison Theatre Building.