Sheldon David Yellen (born January 16, 1958) is an American businessman, author and the CEO of BELFOR Property Restoration. He has appeared on an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

-nominated episode of '' Undercover Boss'' on CBS.

Biography

Yellen was born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family, the oldest of four boys. He was raised alone by his mother. He attended Southfield-Lathrup High School but dropped out to support his family (he later received his diploma at the age of 53). In 1985, he went to work as a salesman for his brothers-in-law's company then known as Quality Awning & Construction which also did restoration work. In 1989, Yellen booked $17 million in sales in South Carolina which was devastated by Hurricane Hugo, effectively doubling the company's sales. He became CEO in 2001. Per Yellen, in 2016 BELFOR is the world's largest disaster restoration company operating in 29 countries with more than 350 offices and employing more than 7,700 full-time employees. He is a guest writer for ''

Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

'' - US edition: ''4 Ways to Ensure Your Startup Will Survive Disaster, How to Make People, Not Résumés, Your Hiring Priority, How Growing Up With Nothing Equipped Me to Run a Billion-Dollar Company''. In 2019, Yellen was awarded an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from Oakland University. Yellen hand-writes over 12,000 cards each year for employees' birthdays and other thanks and congratulations.

Personal life

At the age of 26, he married at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan; he has two sons. Although he had a

bar mitzvah A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Halakha, Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age ...

, he did not begin to practice

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

until he was in his mid-40s.

References

Living people 1958 births Place of birth missing (living people) American chief executives Participants in American reality television series American business writers 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews {{business-bio-stub