Anthony Foxx - Biography

Anthony Foxx was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on April 30, 1971. He attended Irwin Avenue Open Elementary School, Piedmont Open Middle School and West Charlotte Senior High School, where he graduated in 1989. He is a 1993 graduate of Davidson College where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and served as Student Body President. In 1996, Anthony received a law degree from New York University School of Law where he was a Root-Tilden-Snow Public Interest Law Scholar. He has been a member of the North Carolina State Bar since 1997.

In 2005, Anthony was elected to the Charlotte City Council At-Large. Serving in his first term, Anthony championed a ground-breaking community economic development initiative targeting five distressed areas of Charlotte for job growth. As Chair of the City Council’s new Environment Committee, Anthony is pushing the City Council to acknowledge the challenge of global warming and to undertake efforts to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions. Anthony has also led in Charlotte’s efforts to build and maintain quality infrastructure, including roads, neighborhood improvements and affordable housing.

Anthony has been involved in public service throughout his professional life. He has served in each of the judicial, executive and legislative branches of the federal government. In 1997, he left private practice in Charlotte to serve as a judicial clerk for Nathaniel R. Jones, a federal judge who serves on the U.S. Circuit Court for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio. Following his clerkship, Anthony joined the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. as a trial lawyer. In 1999, he was tapped to serve as Counsel to Congressman Melvin Watt, Ranking Member on the Constitution Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, where he advised Watt and other Members of Congress on civil rights issues, proposed constitutional amendments and internet privacy legislation. In 2001, Anthony became Counsel to the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law when Congressman Watt became its Ranking Member.

Anthony has been involved in Mecklenburg County and North Carolina politics for many years. As a college student and law school graduate, he volunteered for the 1990 and 1996 Gantt for Senate campaigns and the 1992 Watt for Congress campaign. In November 2000, he organized and  participated in the Lawyernet Program, a project sponsored by the North Carolina Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign that pulled together lawyers from across the state to respond to voter complaints during the November 2000 elections. In 2002, Anthony served as the Treasurer of the Committee to Keep Judge Diaz, a hard-fought but unsuccessful effort to elect the first Latino American appointed to the North Carolina state bench. (Judge Diaz was subsequently reappointed to the bench). In 2004, he managed the campaign to re-elect U.S. Representative Mel Watt (NC-12) to Congress.

Since October 2001, Anthony has worked as a trial attorney with the law firm of Hunton and Williams where he specializes in business litigation.

Anthony is married to the former Samara Ryder, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and an attorney. Anthony and Samara have a daughter, Hillary (2), and a son, Zachary (1). Anthony has served on many community and civic boards, including the Mecklenburg County Education Budget Advisory Committee, the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching Foundation Board and the North Carolina Dance Theater. He is a member of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church and enjoys sports of all kinds, reading and listening to music.