American University President Sylvia Burwell hosted a one-on-one conversation with Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee at an event launching the new Sine Institute of Policy and Politics.

Read the Full Story

More About Senator Corker

In 2012, Tennesseans overwhelmingly elected Bob Corker to his second term in the U.S. Senate, where he serves as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and is an active member of the Banking Committee and the Budget Committee.

Bob was Tennessee’s commissioner of finance and mayor of Chattanooga before being elected to the Senate in 2006, but he spent most of his life in business.

At the age of 25, Bob started his own construction company with $8,000 in savings, eventually expanding operations to 18 states across the country.

It’s that results-driven businessman’s perspective that allowed him to make a mark early in his Senate tenure and become a pragmatic thought leader on fiscal and financial issues.

Bob quickly rose to prominence on the Banking Committee, where he became known for his no-nonsense, tough questioning of witnesses during the auto industry bailout and 2008 financial crisis. Bob also is a key voice in Congress on housing finance reform. A bipartisan bill he coauthored in 2013 has been called the “blueprint” for how our nation’s housing finance system should look in the future.

A key leader on our nation’s fiscal challenges, Bob is one of the few members of Congress to put pen to paper and produce a bill that would set our country on a path to fiscal solvency. As one of the most fiscally conservative members of Congress, he continues to fight against Washington’s all too common practice of “generational theft.”

Recognizing the important impact U.S. leadership and diplomacy abroad can have on our economy and national security, Bob also is an active leader on the Foreign Relations Committee. Since taking office in 2007, he has visited more than 70 countries to gain a deeper understanding of the strategic relationships between the U.S. and other nations, and in 2015, his colleagues elected him chairman. As the lead Republican on the committee, Corker works with his colleagues to set the committee agenda and help carry out legislative and oversight responsibilities.

Bob graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1974 with a degree in Industrial Management. He and his wife of 31 years, Elizabeth, live in Chattanooga. They have two daughters, Emily Corker, Julia and her husband Justin Spickard, and two grandchildren.