He attended Rivermont Elementary and Baylor School in Chattanooga, where he was a standout[citation needed] tennis player, and Stanford University, where he met his wife, Monique.

After graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, he worked as a clerk for Judge Deanell Reece Tacha of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Lawrence, Kansas.

Berke entered a 2007 special election to replace longtime state senator Ward Crutchfield and defeated Republican Oscar Brock, son of former U.S.

[17] In his 2015 State of the City Address, Berke also announced a new partnership with Chattanooga's Electric Power Board (EPB) to offer discounted high-speed internet access to students on free and reduced lunch through a program called NetBridge.

[20] The creation of an Innovation District and his response to the July 16 attack were both cited as factors in Berke's recognition as American City & County's 2015 Municipal Leader of the Year.

[27] During his second term, he has continued many of the investments that marked his first four years in office, including renewed commitments to early childcare, violence reduction, affordable housing, digital equity, and economic development.

On September 23, 2019, Berke stood alongside Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger and other officials to announce "East Chattanooga Rising," an initiative to convert the former Harriet Tubman Homes site into a mixed-use development anchored by an automotive paint manufacturing facility.

[30] The downtown Innovation District was highlighted repeatedly throughout Berke's second term, with national exposure coming from Revolution's Rise of the Rest tour[31] and Project For Public Spaces' International Placemaking Week.

As part of the city's Fiscal Year 2019 budget, Berke committed $5 million to the community's first Affordable Housing Trust Fund[32] to combat the trend of local home prices and rents rising faster than wages.

Berke was invited to speak to the SCN multiple times and was involved with the 2018 launch of its Public-Private Partnership Task Force Against Hate[33] in conjunction with the German Marshall Fund.

Following local protests after the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, and the shooting of Breonna Taylor, Berke announced the formation of a new Office of Community Resilience[34] to help law enforcement officials, social workers, and criminal justice reform advocates co-create new solutions for responding to people in crisis.

[43] Over the remainder of the year, Berke signed 45 more executive orders extending the state of emergency and authorizing additional steps to slow the virus's spread.

[44] The Berke administration also launched programs to connect homebound senior citizens with health resources,[45] support struggling small businesses[46] and improve community testing, and focus on meeting the unique needs of Chattanooga's Spanish-speaking and Black populations[47] throughout the spring, summer, and fall of 2020.

[48] In this capacity, he will direct $48 billion in resources from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to expand high-speed broadband service to states, municipalities, and tribal lands throughout the country.

He is also a member of NewDEAL Leaders, a coalition of "pro-growth progressive state and local elected officials who champion ideas to grow the economy, expand opportunity for all, and make government work better."