Steve Bisciotti

Bisciotti was born on April 10, 1960, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,{{cite news|last1=Aparicio|first1=Nestor|title=Chapter 2: High Standards, Low Profile of Steve Bisciotti|url=http://wnst.net/nfl/chapter-2-high-standards-low-profile-of-steve-bisciotti/|access-date=April 7, 2018|work=WNST Radio|date=January 13, 2018}} the youngest of three children{{cite book|chapter=Bisciotti, Stephen: Businessman and owner, Baltimore Ravens football team|chapter-url=https://salempress.com/pdf/biosbusiness_samplepgs.pdf|access-date=April 7, 2018|title=Contemporary Biographies in Business|publisher=Salem Press|date=December 2014|isbn=978-1-61925-542-5}} in a middle class Italian-American family.{{cite news|title=Simply Steve|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2004/07/25/simply-steve/|access-date=April 7, 2018|pages=1–3|newspaper=The Baltimore Sun|date=July 25, 2004|first=Jamison|last=Hensley}} In 1961, his parents, Bernard and Patricia Bisciotti, moved the family to Severna Park, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore, for his father's job as a construction sales executive.

As a child, Bisciotti often went with his family to Baltimore Orioles and Colts games. When he was 8 years old, his father died of leukemia. After his father's death, his maternal grandfather, C. Gordon Johnston, a retired regional district salesman for Ford Motor Co., supported the family.

Bisciotti attended the Severn School but left after two years and transferred to Severna Park High School. In his senior year, he played on the football team, though he has said "I wasn’t much of a high school athlete, but played football, baseball, and basketball all the time when I was growing up".{{cite web|title=Steven Bisciotti|url=http://prod.static.ravens.clubs.nfl.com/assets/docs/news/2006_MEDIA_GUIDE.pdf|website=2006 Baltimore Ravens Fan & Media Guide|publisher=NFL|access-date=April 7, 2018|pages=4–5|date=2006}}

In 1982, Bisciotti graduated from Salisbury State University in Maryland with a degree in liberal arts. A year later, at 23, he and his cousin Jim Davis started Aerotek, a staffing company in the aerospace and technology sectors. Running the company out of a basement office with secondhand equipment, Bisciotti and Davis produced $1.5 million in sales in the first year. Aerotek grew into the Allegis Group, which is now the largest privately held staffing firm in the world.{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/companies/allegis-group/|title=Allegis Group on the Forbes America's Largest Private Companies List|date=October 2014|work=Forbes|access-date=April 23, 2015}} Bisciotti's involvement in the sports business has brought more attention to his once low-profile company.

On March 27, 2000, NFL owners approved the sale of 49% of the Ravens to Bisciotti. In the deal, he had an option to purchase the remaining 51% for $325 million in 2004 from Art Modell. The Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV on January 28, 2001. On April 9, 2004, the NFL approved his purchase of the majority stake in the club.

One of the first projects Bisciotti directed as owner of the Ravens was to build the team's state-of-the-art training and practice facility, dubbed "The Castle," which opened in October 2004.{{cite news|first=Susan|last=Reimer|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2013/01/24/inside-the-castle/|title=Inside the Castle|date=January 24, 2013|publisher=The Baltimore Sun}}

Bisciotti fired Brian Billick after the 2007 season, although Billick's nine years as the Ravens' head coach included the team's win in Super Bowl XXXV. He then selected John Harbaugh as the team's new coach.{{cite news|url=https://www.nfl.com/news/owner-ravens-chose-harbaugh-over-ryan-to-avoid-schism-09000d5d821853a9|title=Owner: Ravens chose Harbaugh over Ryan to avoid schism|date=August 16, 2011|publisher=NFL.com}}

In 2012, the Baltimore Ravens capitalized off a 10–6 season to go on to win Super Bowl XLVII against the San Francisco 49ers on February 3, 2013.nfl.com{{Cite web |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201302030sfo.htm |title=Super Bowl XLVII - San Francisco 49ers vs. Baltimore Ravens - February 3rd, 2013 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en |access-date=November 8, 2017}}

In 2005, Bisciotti ranked 378 among the Forbes 400, a list of the richest Americans.{{cite web |url= https://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/54/ZPVC.html |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130123224554/http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/54/ZPVC.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= January 23, 2013 |title= Forbes 400 Richest Americans (2005): #378 Stephen J. Bisciotti |work= Forbes |date= September 15, 2005 |access-date= February 3, 2011 |quote= Net worth: $960 million}}

In 2009, Aerotek, the company Bisciotti co-founded, reached a $1.2 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 1,000 Aerotek workers who worked at a Verizon Internet Services call center in Martinsburg, West Virginia, which was closed in December 2006. The company then was sued to settle claims that the workers were not paid in a timely fashion for accrued personal time and were not paid all of the wages that were due in accordance with the West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act and Fair Labor Standards Act, according to Berkeley County Circuit Court records.{{cite news|last1=Umstead|first1=Matthew|title=Aerotek Settles Suit with Former Workers|url=http://articles.herald-mail.com/2009-04-29/news/25166256_1_million-settlement-workers-short-term-employees|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226121256/http://articles.herald-mail.com/2009-04-29/news/25166256_1_million-settlement-workers-short-term-employees|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 26, 2011|access-date=April 7, 2018|work=The Herald Mail|date=April 29, 2009|language=en}}

Bisciotti is Catholic and a board member for the Associated Catholic Charities and Mother Seton Academy. He and his wife Renee (Foote) Bisciotti have two sons. The family lives on the Point Field Landing of the Severn River in Maryland.

In addition to owning the Ravens, valued at $2.7 billion as of 2009;{{cite web | url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/193534/franchise-value-of-national-football-league-teams-in-2010/ | title=NFL franchise values }} Bisciotti also owns a $20 million yacht named “Winning Drive” and 2 Dassault Falcon private jets.{{cite web | url=https://www.superyachtfan.com/yacht-winning-drive.html | title=Inside WINNING DRIVE Yacht • Westport • 2012 • Value $20M • Owner Steve Bisciotti }}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Baltimore Ravens}}

{{NFL franchise owners}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bisciotti, Steve}}

Category:1960 births

Category:Living people

Category:Baltimore Ravens owners

Category:Salisbury University alumni

Category:Businesspeople from Baltimore

Category:Sportspeople from Philadelphia

Category:People from Severna Park, Maryland

Category:American people of Italian descent

Category:Catholics from Maryland