Editing Bill Haslam (section)

{{Short description|American businessman & politician (born 1958)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Bill Haslam
| image               = Bill Haslam 2016.jpg
| order               = 49th [[Governor of Tennessee]]
| lieutenant          = [[Ron Ramsey]]<br />[[Randy McNally]]
| term_start          = January 15, 2011
| term_end            = January 19, 2019
| predecessor         = [[Phil Bredesen]]
| successor           = [[Bill Lee (Tennessee politician)|Bill Lee]]
| office1             = Chair of the [[Republican Governors Association]]
| term_start1         = November 16, 2017
| term_end1           = November 29, 2018
| predecessor1        = [[Scott Walker (politician)|Scott Walker]]
| successor1          = [[Pete Ricketts]]
| office2             = 67th [[List of mayors of Knoxville, Tennessee|Mayor of Knoxville]]
| term_start2         = December 20, 2003
| term_end2           = January 10, 2011
| predecessor2        = [[Victor Ashe]]
| successor2          = [[Madeline Rogero]]
| birth_name          = William Edward Haslam
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1958|8|23}}
| birth_place         = [[Knoxville, Tennessee]], U.S.
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Crissy Haslam|Crissy Garrett]]|1981}}
| children            = 3
| education           = [[Emory University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| signature           = Bill Haslam signature.png
| caption             = Haslam in 2016
| website             = {{URL|https://www.tn.gov/former-governor-haslam/about-bill-haslam.html|Government website}}
}}
'''William Edward Haslam'''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/jul/18/bill-haslam |title=''Knoxville News Sentinel'' profile on Haslam |publisher=Knoxnews.com |access-date=2013-07-19}}</ref> ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|æ|z|l|ə|m}}; 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 (United States)|Republican Party]], Haslam previously served as the [[List of mayors of Knoxville, Tennessee|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 Company|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|Harold's Stores, Inc]]. He is a co-owner of a [[minor league baseball]] team, the [[Tennessee Smokies]], and is set to become majority owner of the [[National Hockey League]]'s [[Nashville Predators]] by 2025.

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 limits|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 Party (United States)|Democratic]] businessman [[Mike McWherter]] with 65% of the vote in the [[2010 Tennessee gubernatorial election|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.<ref name=Alexander>{{cite news|last1=Alexander|first1=Dan|title=Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam Is New Billionaire, Richest Politician In America|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2015/01/21/tennessee-governor-bill-haslam-is-new-billionaire-after-making-1-billion-in-5-months/|access-date=4 March 2015|work=Forbes|date=21 January 2015}}</ref> He was the wealthiest state governor in America, until Democrat [[JB Pritzker]] of [[Illinois]] took office in January 2019.<ref name="veconomist" >{{cite news|title=Governors' races have become contests between bajillionaires|url=https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21730480-illinois-extreme-example-it-no-outlier-governors-races-have-become-contests|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=19 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wifr.com/content/news/Pritzker-set-to-take-over-as-Illinois-governor-on-Monday-504307811.html|title=Pritzker takes over as Illinois governor|date=January 14, 2019|access-date=January 14, 2019|publisher=WIFR}}</ref>

In the fall of 2019, Haslam became a visiting professor of political science at [[Vanderbilt University]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2019/09/04/former-tennessee-gov-bill-haslam-teach-vanderbilt-university/2208479001/|title=Former Gov. Bill Haslam, historian Jon Meacham to teach Vanderbilt University course on leadership|first=Joel|last=Ebert|website=The Tennessean}}</ref>