Bill Haslam

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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. Aside from politics, he is also notable as the majority owner of the Nashville Predators National Hockey League (NHL) franchise, after he purchased the team from Herb Fritch, in July 2025, and is also co-owner of a minor league baseball team, the Knoxville Smokies. 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 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 the United States, until Democrat JB Pritzker of Illinois took office in January 2019. In the fall of 2019, Haslam became a visiting professor of political science at Vanderbilt University.

Career

1. 1958
   Born

Trivia

• •Place of birth: Knoxville
• •Citizenship: United States
• •Known as: politician, entrepreneur