Partners
David Katzman is the Managing Partner for Camelot Ventures and Vice Chairman for Quicken Loans and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Camelot Ventures is a private investment group which invests in technology and other businesses. Some of the past and current investments have included contact lens retailing companies Lens 1st, Lens Express and 1-800-Contacts; Kintana, a technology chain automation software developer; Rawlings Sporting Goods; Red Envelope, a leading online and catalog retailer of stylish gifts; Flashseats, an electronic ticketing company; Fathead, a life-size graphic wall imaging company; and ePrize, the largest on-line promotions company.
After 12 months of passively investing with Camelot Ventures, Katzman resigned from The Home Depot on April 1, 2000 to pursue venture investing and advising full time. As former President of the Home Depot S.O.C., a division of Home Depot USA, which specializes in the processing of special orders for The Home Depot stores nationwide, his responsibilities included developing The Home Depot's call center strategy for North America, process flow for handling special orders from initial customer contact to vendor payment, and full systems integration between the call centers, the internet, the vendors and the stores. While President of this division, The Home Depot's, overall store sales grew from $20 to $40 billion throughout North America.
Mr. Katzman began his career by working in various retail positions with chain store experience until he founded DeeKay Enterprises, Inc., in 1987. This was the start of a 10-year run at successfully launching a variety of consumer oriented companies including a Midwest home decor retail chain, Habitat; the nation's second largest direct to consumer contact lens company, Lens1st; and the number one direct to consumer home decor company, National Blinds and Wallpaper.
Home Depot purchased DeeKay Enterprises in 1997 and acquired all of the assets to strategically enter the direct to consumer marketplace and strengthen its special order systems in the stores.
Mr. Katzman sits on the Boards of Directors for Quicken Loans, the nation's largest online direct mortgage lender, the Cavaliers basketball team, e-Prize, the nation's largest on-line promotions company, and formerly served on the board of 1-800-Contacts (NASDAQ - CTAC) the largest direct to consumer contact lens company in the world. Other Board positions include RealAge.com, a medical advocate and permission marketing site with over 1.5 million registered and active users.
He earned a B.A. in accounting/finance at Michigan State University and attended Detroit College of Law for his graduate work.
Mr. Katzman is involved in a number of community organizations including past Chairperson of HAVEN charity (a non-profit that supports domestic abuse cases), Honorary Host of ORT charity (an educational non-profit), JARC (a non-profit that serves the developmentally disabled). Mr. Katzman also is an all around fund raiser for numerous other non-profits.