ATANAS ILITCH

President, Olympia Development

Atanas Ilitch was named to the position of president, Olympia Development in October, 2005.  In this role, his focus is on cultivating development and creating new business opportunities in downtown Detroit.

Prior to this position, Atanas held a variety of positions with the family’s companies over the past twenty years and gained significant development experience in the redevelopment projects of the Fox Theater and Fox Office Center in the late 1980’s.  He served as director of Detroit Real Estate in 1990-91, president of Olympia Entertainment, Inc. from 1992-2000, and vice president of the Detroit Red Wings.  He played a pivotal role in developing the former Hughes & Hatcher site on Woodward Avenue into the highly successful Second City Theatre, Hockeytown Café and City Theatre venues, as well as Hockeytown Authentics in Troy.

He was instrumental in developing Comerica Park and initiated discussions with the Ford family that led to the side-by-side stadium concept and the construction of Ford Field next to Comerica Park.  Recently, he also created and developed Soup Can Music Company, a successful recording facility in Detroit which produced five #1 hits and garnered four Grammy nominations by musical artists Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker and R. Kelly.

Atanas founded the Atanas Ilitch Osteosarcoma Foundation in 2000 to help in the battle against children’s bone cancer.  Since its inception, it has donated over $300,000 to pediatric cancer programs and research labs at Children’s Hospital/DMC in Detroit, St. John Hospital Cancer Center in Detroit, Beaumont Hospital – Cancer Research in Royal Oak, MI, St. Jude’s Pediatric Cancer Center in Memphis, Tenn., and Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital Pediatric Bone Cancer Research Lab in New York.

Atanas Ilitch was a founding board member of Jeff Daniels’ Purple Rose Theater in Chelsea, MI., served on the “Light Up Detroit” initiative, and worked with and granted $30,000 to the American Cancer Society – Detroit Chapter’s Scholarship Program.

Born in Detroit, Atanas Ilitch received a BA from the University of Michigan in 1985.  He also attended The American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and the University of Southern California Master of Fine Arts Program.