Anthony Foxx

Anthony Renard Foxx (born April 30, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Secretary of Transportation from 2013 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Foxx had previously served as Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina from 2009 to 2013. First elected to the Charlotte City Council in 2005, his 2009 mayoral victory made him the youngest person to serve as Charlotte's mayor, as well as the second African American to hold the role.

Foxx was nominated to the position of Secretary of Transportation by President Barack Obama in April 2013. He went on to be confirmed in a 100–0 vote in June 2013. Upon taking office, he became the youngest Cabinet secretary serving at the time. After leaving office, Foxx joined rideshare company Lyft as chief policy officer in 2018. Foxx left his role as chief policy officer in October 2021, but continued to serve as an advisor to the company.

He currently serves as the chair of the Board of Trustees of Davidson College.

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, pursued education at Piedmont Open IB Middle School, and graduated from West Charlotte High School. He graduated from Davidson College in 1993, where he was the first African American student body president. Foxx majored in history, and went on to earn a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1996. Foxx also announced the creation of more than 4,000 new jobs, which was 19,000 jobs short of what was lost on his watch. He hosted a series of town hall meetings with unemployed workers, pushed for changes to the city's small business loan program, and pressed White House officials for economic recovery spending measures.

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.

Secretary of Transportation On April 29, 2013, President Barack Obama announced that he would nominate Foxx to the post of the Secretary of Transportation. On June 27, 2013, the Senate confirmed the nomination by a unanimous vote.

Foxx prepared and advocated for the Obama administration's first surface transportation bill, the Grow America Act, in 2014, and worked to get its congressional incarnation, the FAST Act, passed. He consolidated the department's financing programs and accelerated permitting policies. Foxx also put forth new rules governing the commercial use of drones, blueprinted a comprehensive national policy on autonomous vehicles, and launched the Department's first Smart City Challenge, engaging more than 70 cities to develop their own strategies to incorporate new technologies into their transportation networks.

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

Private sector career Foxx joined Lyft in October 2018 as the company's chief policy officer. In that role, he advocated for California's Proposition 22, which maintained the independent contractor status of gig workers while also providing, for the first time, a minimum earnings standard for drivers, as well as access to health care, retirement and other benefits previously prohibited by independent contracting laws. The measure left open the question of whether drivers could organize. He stepped down from the chief policy officer role in October 2021, but he remained with Lyft as a senior advisor.

Foxx joined the faculty of the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University's school of public policy and government, in September 2023 as Emma Bloomberg Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership. In January 2024, it was announced that Foxx would succeed former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick as co-director of the Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership. He is set to take over the role in July 2024. On January 1, 2025, he became the Director of the Center for Public Leadership.

Personal life Foxx is married to Samara Ryder,