Nicholas Van Campen Taylor, known as Van Taylor (born August 1, 1972), is an American businessman and politician from Plano, Texas. A veteran of the Iraq War and a member of the Republican Party, he represents District 8 in the Texas State Senate. He previously served in the Texas House of Representatives, representing District 66 in western Collin County.A seventh-generation Texan, Taylor was born in Dallas. He is a direct descendant of one of the founders of Humble Oil, which later became Exxon-Mobil. He grew up in Midland, Texas, where he attended the Hillander School and San Jacinto Junior High School. He graduated from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He subsequently graduated in three years from Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from which he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in history. Wikipedia