Anthony Foxx

Anthony Foxx
17th United States Secretary of Transportation
In office
July 2, 2013 – January 20, 2017
President Barack Obama
Deputy John Porcari
Victor Mendez
Preceded by Ray LaHood
Succeeded by Elaine Chao
54th Mayor of Charlotte
In office
December 7, 2009 – July 1, 2013
Preceded by Pat McCrory
Succeeded by Patsy Kinsey
Personal details
Born Anthony Renard Foxx
(1971-04-30) April 30, 1971
Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Samara Ryder
Children 2
Education Davidson College (BA)
New York University (JD)

Anthony Renard Foxx (born April 30, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the United States Secretary of Transportation from 2013 to 2017. Previously, he served as the Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, from 2009 to 2013. He is a member of the Democratic Party.[1][2][3] First elected to the Charlotte City Council in 2005, upon his 2009 mayoral victory he became the youngest mayor of Charlotte[4] and the second African American mayor.[5]

President Barack Obama nominated Foxx to be the Secretary of Transportation[6][7] in April 2013, and he was confirmed by a 100-0 vote in June 2013.[8][9]

Early life

Foxx was born on April 30, 1971 in Charlotte, North Carolina.[10] He was raised by his mother, Laura Foxx, and his grandparents, James and Mary Foxx,[11] and graduated from West Charlotte High School.[1][12] He graduated from Davidson College, where he was the first African American student body president,[13] in 1993. Foxx majored in history,[14] and went on to earn a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1996.[12][14]

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.[12] In 2004, he was the campaign manager for Representative Mel Watt.[13]

In 2001, he returned to Charlotte to work as a business litigator for Hunton & Williams.[12] While a member of the city council, he retained his position as a litigator at Hunton & Williams, switching to part-time status.

Political career

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 54th and youngest mayor in 2009 an was re-elected in 2011; upon his election, he was the city's first Democratic mayor since Harvey Gantt left office in 1987. 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.

As the then-second largest financial services center in the United States, Foxx inherited a city facing the worst recession in more than 80 years. As the nation's second largest financial services center at the time, the city faced 25,000-plus job losses creating an existential crisis. Foxx quickly established a blueprint for recovery - reforming the city's public safety pay plan to bring it into fiscal balance, developing a demand-driven workforce development model that has become a national model,[15] crafting incentives for small businesses and entrepreneurs to grow businesses in the city, and leading the city council to pass the largest bond package in the city's history.

Foxx announced the creation of more than 4,000 new jobs. In doing so, he 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.

From a transportation perspective, Foxx helped salvage the city's largest single capital project - the Blue Line Extension, which was threatened by lower than anticipated sales tax revenue;[16] helped structure an innovative finance deal to complete the city's outer beltway; launched a new streetcar; and put forward the largest injection of street bonds in the city's history. These efforts garnered the notice of other city mayors around the nation - as well as the President of the United States.

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.[8] Foxx resigned from his elected position as mayor to accept the federal appointment.[17] He outlined his priorities on January 15, 2014 at the 93rd Annual Transportation Research Board Chairman’s Luncheon in Washington, DC.[18]

Foxx prepared and advocated for the Obama Administration's first surface transportation bill, the Grow America Act, in 2014,[19][20] and worked on a bipartisan basis to get its congressional incarnation, the FAST Act, passed.[21] He consolidated the Department's innovative financing programs and accelerated permitting policies into a new Build America Bureau and put a new executive director in place.[22] He embraced technology by pushing forward new rules governing the commercial use of drones,[23] blueprinted the most comprehensive national policy on autonomous vehicles in the world,[24] and launched the Department's first, and the Administration's most successful, Smart City Challenge, engaging more than 70 cities to develop their own strategies to incorporate new technologies into their transportation networks.[25]

He placed nearly $30 billion in discretionary federal grants around the country, giving rise to a national pipeline of projects now poised to seek innovative financing, including the NY-NJ Gateway Project, Chicago Union Station, Florida East Coast High Speed Rail, and Texas Central Railway.

Foxx was the designated survivor for the 2015 State of the Union Address on January 20, 2015.[26][27]

Personal life

Foxx is married to Samara Ryder,[13] also an attorney; they have a daughter Hillary and a son Zachary.[28]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Morrill, Jim; Lyttle, Steve (November 3, 2009). "Foxx elected Charlotte's mayor". Charlotte Observer. Retrieved November 3, 2009.
  2. ↑ Spanberg, Erik (November 6, 2009). "Pat McCrory: Seven terms and not (quite) done yet". Charlotte Business Journal. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
  3. ↑ "Charlotte Mayor-Elect Anthony Foxx Sits Down For Exclusive Interview With Channel 9". WSOC-TV. November 5, 2009. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved November 9, 2009.
  4. ↑ "Mecklenburg - Election Results". results.enr.clarityelections.com.
  5. ↑ "Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx cites family in announcement he won’t run for third term" (Charlotte Business Journal article)
  6. ↑ Baker, Peter (April 29, 2013). "Charlotte Mayor Is Chosen as Transportation Chief". The New York Times.
  7. ↑ "Nomination of Mayor Anthony Foxx to be Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation".
  8. 1 2 "Cabinet post caps Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx's steep ascent".
  9. ↑ "Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx Sworn in as 17th U.S. Secretary of Transportation". July 2, 2013.
  10. ↑ Laurel (October 18, 2009). "Charlotte's Next Mayor".
  11. ↑ "Where Politics is a Family Affair". The Charlotte Observer. February 6, 2007. p. 1B.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Harrison, Steve (October 18, 2009). "Anthony Foxx, Democrat - Describes Himself as Mediator, Ready to Speak Out on Issues". Charlotte Observer. p. 1A.
  13. 1 2 3 Rubin, Richard (September 29, 2005). "Grandfather's Lessons Pay Off for City Council Contender - Grandson of Stalwart of Democratic Party Leads Primary At-Large Ticket". The Charlotte Observer. p. 1B.
  14. 1 2 "Anthony R. Foxx". Hunton & Williams. Archived from the original on September 23, 2009. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
  15. ↑ "Mayor Foxx on Charlotte's "herculean" efforts to promote training". Washington Post.
  16. ↑ "Charlotte's Once Ambitious Rapid Transit Plan Faces Budget Ax". November 19, 2010.
  17. ↑ "Anthony Foxx resigns as mayor, Patsy Kinsey named new mayor".
  18. ↑ Secretary Anthony Foxx: Remarks at the 93rd Annual Transportation Research Board Chairman’s Luncheon, Transportation Research Board
  19. ↑ "This Week in Infrastructure: White House offers bill to grow America". May 2, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Foxx Ends Bus Tour by Asking People to Send Congress 'Picture of a Pothole'". February 20, 2015.
  21. ↑ Goad, Ben (December 4, 2015). "Obama signs $305B highway bill".
  22. ↑ "Martin Klepper to lead USDOT Build America Bureau".
  23. ↑ "FAA Expects 600,000 Commercial Drones In The Air Within A Year".
  24. ↑ "US DOT unveils 'world's first autonomous vehicle policy,' ushering in age of driverless cars".
  25. ↑ Newcomb, Doug. "Transportation Secretary Foxx On Why Columbus, Ohio Won The DOT's $40 Million Smart City Challenge". Forbes.
  26. ↑ "Obama's 'designated survivor:' Anthony Foxx". USA Today. January 20, 2015.
  27. ↑ Jackson, David (January 20, 2015). "O". NationalJournal. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Meet the Secretary". United States Department of Transportation. July 15, 2013.
Political offices
Preceded by
Pat McCrory		 Mayor of Charlotte
2009–2013		 Succeeded by
Patsy Kinsey
Preceded by
Ray LaHood		 United States Secretary of Transportation
2013–2017		 Succeeded by
Elaine Chao
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