If you’ve met Peter Karmanos, Jr., you’ve met passion personified. As Compuware’s Executive Chairman of the Board, Pete uses that passion to ensure that the company delivers value to its customers. How? Simple–through the hottest distributed products in the market, through outstanding professional services and through the most-respected mainframe software in the world, Compuware helps make its customers more productive.

Getting the company to where it is today, however, has not always been so simple. Flashback to 1973, when Pete sat in his dining room with two buddies and gambled. The stakes were higher than he could’ve imagined at the time, because with $3,000 each in tax-return money, Pete and his friends formed Compuware, a company that would become a worldwide leader in delivering technology value to customers. Pete, along with the late Thomas Thewes and Allen Cutting, Jr., wanted to build ”…a 20 to 25 person company that would be a fun place to work.” Instead, they created Detroit’s technology giant, with more than 4,000 employees and nearly $1 billion in annual revenue.

Since Compuware began, Pete’s had a front seat on the rollercoaster of the technology industry, and he’s seen it all. He’s seen the fads come and go. He’s seen little sock puppets star in $2 million TV commercials only to end up bankrupt and on the auction block. What does it take to thrive in the midst of the madness? As Pete will tell you, there’s no big secret. It’s a time-tested formula consisting of highly visible leadership, hands-on management, a keen awareness of what’s happening in the industry and–most importantly–a strong foundation.

For Pete, that foundation is the straightforward, unwavering mission of Compuware–to deliver value through technology, allowing customers to focus on what they do best, from selling cars to selling widgets. This focus has allowed Pete and his worldwide teams to see through the trends and fads and build real solutions that customers want and need. With solutions that help software performance surpass expectations, Compuware continues to help people do things with computers.

Compuware has been called the blue-collar software company, and perhaps that all began at Peter Karmanos, Sr.’s diner in Detroit. They called it Pete’s Place, though it was really named Grand & Lahser Hamburgers. That’s where Peter Jr. learned firsthand what it meant to meet the expectations of customers. And the value of coming to work every day and getting something done has stayed with Pete since his days running the cash register.

Another thing that’s stuck with Pete since his days in the diner is his respect for the hardworking people who help drive business forward every day. Having well overshot his goal of building a 25-person company, Pete also strove to over-deliver on the promise of giving his employees a fun place to work. Today, with its fresh, open design, incredible views, health club, day care facility and many other employee amenities, the Compuware headquarters building in Downtown Detroit is a perfect encapsulation of Compuware’s fun, friendly culture.

Pete is an avid gardener, a master gardener in fact. He’s also a member of Mensa and has had the good fortune to have his name be one of the (incorrect) answers on a famous trivia game show. He is also an athlete and sports fan, which led Pete into co-ownership of three hockey teams–the Carolina Hurricanes (National Hockey League), the Plymouth Whalers (Ontario Hockey League), and the Florida Everblades (East Coast Hockey League)–and drove him to create youth hockey programs for the children of Southeast Michigan.

In addition to his personal and business pursuits, Pete is deeply committed to philanthropy. Pete has made gifts of more than $50 million to establish and support the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, the only nationally recognized center to be named for a woman. Pete, along with Compuware employees around the world, supports a wide variety of other causes. Pete attended Wayne State University in Detroit, before pursuing his fascination with business and technology.

Pete lives in the metropolitan Detroit area with his wife Danialle and their three sons Socrates, Leonidas and Spiros. Pete now has six sons and eight grandchildren.

Danialle—in addition to her ongoing work as a nationally acclaimed video producer—founded Danialle Karmanos’ Work It Out (DKWIO), a 501(c)3 organization that fights childhood obesity by providing kids with the tools they need to make healthy choices. Pete and Danialle enjoy movies (with popcorn and ”Milk Dudes”), traveling, reading the paper and golfing. The couple is already working on ideas for the documentary they’d like to co-produce someday.