There was a time when Jon M. Huntsman, who was born in Blackfoot, Idaho, had to work three jobs to help support his family while his father earned his doctorate at Stanford.

He is now the founder and chairman of Huntsman Corporation, a global chemical manufacturer.

Twenty-seven years ago, Huntsman began a small entrepreneurial plastics packaging business, which is now a global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated chemicals. Originally known for pioneering innovations in packaging and, later, for rapid and integrated growth in petrochemicals, Huntsman today has 13,000 employees and operates from multiple locations worldwide. The company had 2006 revenues of more than $13 billion.

Huntsman earned his undergraduate degree at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He later earned an MBA from the University of Southern California. He has been awarded thirteen honorary doctorate degrees at various universities. Huntsman was a U.S. Naval gunnery officer and served under President Richard Nixon as special assistant to the president and as White House staff secretary.

Huntsman authored a book on corporate ethics entitled, Winners Never Cheat: Everyday Values We Learned as Children (But May Have Forgotten). In 2001, Huntsman was presented with Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In 2003, he received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from CNN's Larry King.

Huntsman and his wife, Karen, founded the Huntsman Cancer Institute in 1995 to accelerate the work of curing cancer through human genetics. The institute is now one of America's major cancer research centers dedicated to finding cures for cancer, as well as a state of the art clinic and treatment center for cancer patients.

Jon and Karen Huntsman are the parents of nine children and grandparents to 56.