William Edward Haslam (; born August 23, 1958) is an American billionaire businessman and politician who served as the 49th governor of Tennessee from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Haslam previously served as the 67th mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee. He was born in Knoxville and graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He began his career in business, joining his father, Jim Haslam, who was the founder of Pilot Corporation. Haslam rose to president of Pilot Corp in the 1990s, after his brother Jimmy Haslam became the company's CEO. Haslam then left Pilot and from 1999 to 2001 was the CEO of the e-commerce and cataloging division at the department store chain Saks Fifth Avenue. He then became a consultant at Saks and later served on the board of directors at Harold's Stores, Inc. He is a co-owner of the minor league baseball team the Tennessee Smokies. He was elected Mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee in the 2003 Knoxville mayoral election with 52% of the vote. He was reelected in the 2007 Knoxville mayoral election, winning 87% of the vote, and served until 2011. After incumbent Governor Phil Bredesen was term-limited, Haslam declared his candidacy for the office in January 2009. He defeated U.S. Representative Zach Wamp and Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey in the Republican primary with 47% of the vote and went on to defeat Democratic businessman Mike McWherter with 65% of the vote in the 2010 general election. A 2015 Forbes article estimated Haslam's net worth at $2 billion, making him the nation's wealthiest elected official at that time. He was the wealthiest state governor in America, until Democrat J. B. Pritzker of Illinois took office in January 2019. In the fall of 2019, Haslam became a visiting professor of political science at Vanderbilt University. Early life, education, and business career Haslam was born in 1958 in Knoxville, Tennessee, the third child of Jim Haslam, the founder of Pilot Corporation, the parent company of the convenience store and travel center chain, Pilot Flying J, and his wife, Cynthia (Allen). Jim Haslam has been a Republican Party fundraiser and University of Tennessee donor and trustee for several decades. Haslam was educated at the Webb School of Knoxville, where he became active in the Christian group Young Life. He later attended Emory University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in history in 1980. He is a member of