J. Barry Banker grew up in Nashville and entered Montgomery Bell Academy in the 7th grade, graduating in 1969. Banker went on to Vanderbilt University, earning a B.A. in 1973, then earned an MBA in Accounting and Finance from the University of Chicago in 1975. Banker returned to Nashville and served as Treasurer, and later President, of Mid-State Steel, Inc., a family-owned steel distribution center in Nashville and Lexington, Kentucky. After selling the business in 1986, Banker became president of The Stewart Home and School, a private residential home and school in Frankfort, Kentucky that features 355 year- round students, ages 15-90 from 38 states and several foreign countries. Stewart Home specializes in students with special needs & intellectual challenges. Banker serves on the board of Hope Through Healing Hands, Senator Bill Frist’s (’70) Foundation for Global Health. Banker and his wife Jean Ann have three children, P.G. Ann Stewart, and James.