Exxon Mobil said Mr. Tillerson was not available for an interview on Tuesday.

If Mr. Tillerson is confirmed, the State Department would be the latest step up in a career and life with humble origins. He has a strong Texas twang as befits a man born in Wichita Falls, a North Texas town known mainly for its Air Force base and its tornadoes.

He grew up in a family of modest means; his father was an administrator for the Boy Scouts. Mr. Tillerson became an Eagle Scout at age 13; he later graduated with a degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, where he played drums in the Longhorns’ marching band.

Married and with four children, he is known as a an observant Christian and political conservative. He has said his favorite book is “Atlas Shrugged,” a libertarian novel by Ayn Rand.

Those who know him say he has a Texas-size ego and can show flashes of anger when things do not go his way.

Throughout his professional life, Mr. Tillerson has been involved in charities. He was a national president of the Boy Scouts of America and is a former director of the United Negro College Fund.

He showed interest in foreign affairs when serving as a trustee for the Center of Strategic and International Studies. He was on that Washington think tank’s board with Zbigniew K. Brzezinski, a former national security adviser, and Henry A. Kissinger, a former secretary of state, among others.

Under the leadership of Mr. Tillerson, who has been chairman and chief executive since 2006, Exxon Mobil shifted its approach to climate policy — although environmentalists may disagree. The company has acknowledged the science underlying climate change, and has stopped funding some groups that spread false data about global warming. The company also put support behind carbon taxes and last December’s Paris climate agreement.