Enjoy lunch with Glenn Stearns and his TV personality wife Mindy in Orange County, CA!
In Undercover Billionaire, businessman Glenn Stearns heads to Erie, Pa., to try to build a million-dollar company from scratch in just 90 days. With $100 in his pocket, the self-made billionaire must come up with an idea and find a team to help him build the business. In the reality series, Stearns will reveal his true identity at the end of the 90 days, and a financial evaluator will asses the value of his new company to see whether it hits the mark. If it doesn't, Stearns will put $1 million of his own money into the business. Growing up in a low-income suburb of Washington, DC, Stearns attributes hope, hard work and mentors as the influences that helped him break free from hardship, overcome numerous challenges, and dare to live his wildest dreams. Glenn was born to alcoholic parents, diagnosed dyslexic, and failed 4th grade. He fathered a child at the age of 14 and graduated high school in the bottom ten-percent of his class. While some of his friends lost their lives to drugs and alcohol, and others spent time in prison, Glenn's path intersected with mentors who gave him motivating examples of how to not meet the fate of his friends and instead take control his destiny. He took that life-changing encouragement and ran with it.
Glenn became the first person in his family to attend college and graduated with a degree in economics from Towson University. Inspired by stories of people who took risks and achieved their grandest ambitions, he then moved to California where he slept on the kitchen floor of a one-bedroom apartment that he shared with five other recent grads. While waiting tables, Glenn continued to search for new opportunities to rise above his humble beginnings. At 25, after working as a loan officer for 10 months, Glenn formed his own mortgage company Stearns Lending LLC. In 2002, Glenn's business acumen was honored with Ernst & Young's prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year Award. By 2010, Stearns Lending LLC reached nearly $1 billion a month in funding while experiencing record growth. Stearns not only survived the 2007 mortgage-lending crisis, it emerged as one of the top lenders in the country. His unusual climb to the top has also lead him to profound experiences and life lessons outside of the board room. Many have compared his journey to the fictional character Forrest Gump. Glenn's adventures range from being in the courtroom the day of the OJ Simpson murder case closing arguments ("If it doesn't fit, you must acquit."); traveling with astronauts and Vice Presidents; competing and winning the reality TV show "Gilligan's Island"; to owning a Montana ranch with John Elway and a private Caribbean island with Sir Richard Branson. In 2011, In his free time, Glenn travels the country mentoring youth and business professionals to dig into their own stories and discover the brilliance from setbacks as key to experiencing abundance and accomplishments. A
mong the other platitudes and attitudes he shares, is the observation that by forging ahead with resilience one discovers a whole-hearted life with passion and purpose. Today, the father to six children, and grandfather of two, Glenn and his wife Mindy are both active mentors to young people with adversities. The Stearns have been honored for their dedication to community service and philanthropy with Starkey Hearing Foundation's "American Couple of the Year Award," Orange County's "Giving Is Living Award,” and the 2014 Athlete's First - Orangewood Children's Foundation's "Golden Heart Award" for leadership and impact on youth.