Robert Phillips Corker Jr., born on August 24, 1952, in Orangeburg, South Carolina, moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, at age 11, where he grew up attending public schools and developing a strong work ethic through early jobs such as picking up trash at age 13, bagging ice, and working as a construction laborer. He earned a B.S. in industrial management from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1974. At age 25, with $8,000 in savings, he founded Bencor Corp., a construction company that expanded operations to 18 states, known for completing projects on time and under budget; he sold it in 1990. Subsequently, he acquired two of Chattanooga's largest commercial real estate firms in 1999, selling them in 2006, and co-founded the Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise in 1986, a nonprofit aiding over 10,000 families with affordable housing. Prior to his Senate tenure, Corker entered politics with an unsuccessful U.S. Senate run in 1994, followed by appointment as Tennessee Commissioner of Finance and Administration (1995-1996) under Governor Don Sundquist, and election as Mayor of Chattanooga (2001-2005), where he applied business principles to revitalize the city into one of the nation's most admired. He is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 2007 to 2019, chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2015 to 2019. A Presbyterian married to Elizabeth with two children, Corker resides in Chattanooga. Post-Senate, he has remained active as a keynote speaker and alumnus supporter of his alma mater.