Bob Corker
The current U.S. Senator from Tennessee got his start in the construction business working as a jobsite superintendent. At 25, he started his own construction company with $8,000 in savings. His firm, Bencor, quickly grew to expand operations into 18 states, thanks to the 1980s housing boom.
In 1990 he sold Bencor to launch into commercial development. He eventually amassed a fortune–his net worth is an estimated $40 million to $50 million–making him one of the few self-made millionaires in the Senate, according to Fortune magazine.
Before his election to the Senate, Corker also headed an affordable housing initiative called Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise, an outgrowth of a church mission trip to Haiti to build houses.
