Anthony Foxx

Early life

Foxx was born on April 30, 1971 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was raised by his mother, Laura Foxx, and his grandparents, James and Mary Foxx, and graduated from West Charlotte High School. He graduated from Davidson College, where he was the first African American student body president, in 1993. Foxx majored in history, and went on to earn a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1996.

Legal career

After law school, Foxx returned to Charlotte to work for a short time at the Smith, Helms, Mullis, and Moore law firm, and left to become a clerk for Judge Nathaniel R. Jones of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. Later he worked for the United States Department of Justice and the United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. In 2004, he was the campaign manager for Representative Mel Watt.

In 2001, he returned to Charlotte to work as a business litigator for Hunton & Williams. While a member of the city council, he retained his position as a litigator at Hunton & Williams, switching to part-time status. In 2009, he left Hunton & Williams to join DesignLine Corporation, a hybrid electric bus manufacturer, as its Deputy General Counsel. In August 2015, the Trustee for DesignLine filed suit for $420,000, clawback against Foxx on the allegation that Foxx didn’t actually do the job he reportedly held at DesignLine.

Municipal government

Foxx was first elected to the Charlotte City Council in 2005 to an at-large seat, and was re-elected in 2007. He won election as Charlotte's mayor in 2009. Early in his political career, Foxx gained a reputation as a quick study of local policy and led a number of City Council initiatives, including the development of policies to enhance job creation into the urban core of Charlotte, environmental efforts that led to a single stream recycling program and greenhouse gas reduction policies and acceleration of the region's transit plan.

Beginning his tenure as mayor while facing a nearly 13% area unemployment rate, Foxx has announced the creation of more than 4,000 new jobs, has worked to reinforce Charlotte's role as a critical energy industry hub, hosted a series of town hall meetings with unemployed workers, pushed for changes to the city's small business loan program to create new jobs, saw the completion of a new runway at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport and led a delegation of Charlotte business leaders to meet with senior White House officials to press for several economic recovery spending measures. Three weeks later, President Barack Obama traveled to Charlotte to visit the new Duke Energy headquarters and to highlight the first positive monthly job growth figures in 18 months.

Secretary of Transportation

President Obama said on April 29, 2013 that he would nominate Foxx to be the Secretary of Transportation. On June 27, 2013, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Foxx to the Secretary of Transportation by a vote of 100-0. Foxx resigned from his elected position as mayor to accept the federal appointment. He priorities on 15 January 2014 at the 93rd Annual Transportation Research Board Chairman’s Luncheon in Washington, DC.

On September 12, 2014, Foxx announced 72 projects that were going to receive Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants to help fund rapid transit projects.

On September 16, 2014, Foxx gave the keynote address at a rail signing ceremony in Detroit's Grand Circus Park, which will be a terminus of the new Detroit Streetcar route.

Foxx was the designated survivor for the 2015 State of the Union Address on January 20, 2015.

On July 14, 2015, Foxx served as keynote speaker during the inaugural ride of the Charlotte, NC streetcar. This was a $37 million transportation project he supported while holding office as the Mayor of Charlotte prior to his appointment of Secretary of Transportation.

Personal life

Foxx is married to Samara Ryder, also an attorney; they have a daughter Hillary and a son Zachary.