Bill Haslam

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 is also the majority owner of the Nashville Predators, having bought the team from Herb Fritch in July 2025, and co-owner of a minor league baseball team, the Knoxville Smokies. Haslam was born in Knoxville and attended Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. After graduating, he joined Pilot Corporation, founded by his father Jim. In the 1990s, he served as its president, with Jim being the chairman and his brother Jimmy being the CEO. From 1999 to 2001, he was 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. In 2003, Haslam was elected mayor of Knoxville, earning 52% of the vote. A total vote of 87% afforded him re-election in 2007. In 2009, he announced that he would be running to succeed Phil Bredesen as Governor of Tennessee; winning the Republican primary with 47% of the vote, he went on to handily defeat businessman Mike McWherter, the Democratic candidate, in the general election. His margin of victory increased in 2014. 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 January 2019, when JB Pritzker, a member of the Pritzker family, became Governor of Illinois. In the fall of 2019, Haslam became a visiting professor of political science at Vanderbilt University.