Anthony Foxx has been a Professor of Practice at Harvard Kennedy School since early 2022. Prior to that, he served as the 17th US Transportation Secretary under President Obama from 2013-2017 after being Mayor of Charlotte from 2009-2013. His path into board service was a bit unorthodox, as he received a random call from the CEO of Martin Marietta Materials in 2017 while still at Lyft asking if he would be interested in serving on their board. He went through the formal interview process and joined. He joined the boards of CDW and NXP Semiconductor while still at Lyft, serving on three public boards at once.
He believes serving on these boards provided him beneficial P&L experience that his government and policy roles lacked. As boards look to diversify, he thinks focusing on racial diversity specifically is important to avoid just adding “diversity” seats; this requires direct CEO and board-level commitments.
Effective board members contribute unique viewpoints, ask thoughtful questions, and take leadership positions in proposing strategic options. He aims to ensure there is a qualified pool of Black directors in the pipeline now so companies have no excuse for lack of racial diversity in the future.
