Adrian Fenty

Her family immigrated to the United States from the comune of Monte San Giovanni Campano in Lazio in 1920.

His father, who is originally from Buffalo, New York, has roots in Barbados and Panama.

Phil and Jeanette Fenty moved to Washington, D.C., in 1967.

Fenty was raised in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood.

While he was growing up, his parents owned and ran a Fleet Feet athletic shoe store in the D.C. neighborhood of Adams Morgan.

Fenty graduated from Mackin Catholic High School, where he ran track.

He earned a B.A. in English and economics from Oberlin College, and a J.D. from the Howard University School of Law.

He remains a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.

Before becoming involved in local D.C. politics, Fenty worked as an intern for U.S. Senator Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH), U.S. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), and U.S. Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II (D-MA).

Adrian Malik Fenty (born December 6, 1970) is an American politician who served as the mayor of the District of Columbia from 2007 to 2011.

A Washington, D.C. native, Fenty graduated from Oberlin College and Howard University Law School, then served for six years on the D.C. Council.

He served one term as D.C. mayor and lost his bid for reelection at the primary level to his eventual successor, Democrat Vincent C. Gray.

Though Fenty won the Republican mayoral primary as a write-in candidate, he declined the Republican nomination and said he would likely not seek elected office again.

Since leaving office, Fenty has become a special advisor to the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and as a member of the business development team at the law firm Perkins Coie.

Fenty has held advisory and business development roles with Rosetta Stone, Everfi, and Capgemini.

He has served on the boards of directors at two nonprofits: Genesys Works-Bay Area and Fight for Children.

He has served as a paid speaker, part-time college professor, and adviser for state and local governments with an information technology consulting firm.

Fenty was born in Washington, D.C., the second of the three children of Jeanette Bianchi Perno Fenty and Phil Fenty.

He is the middle child amongst three boys: Shawn, himself, and Jesse.

Fenty's mother is Italian-American.

In 2000, Fenty won a seat on the Council of the District of Columbia, defeating longtime Ward 4 Councilmember Charlene Drew Jarvis by a margin of 57 to 43 percent after engaging in an aggressive door-to-door strategy.

Unopposed in both the primary and general elections in 2004, Fenty was reelected for a second term.

The Washington Post described Fenty's performance as a Council member as "independent" and "contrarian".

During his time on the council, he opposed public funding for a new Major League Baseball stadium, saying the owners should pay for it.

He proposed a $1 billion capital improvement program for the public schools—which the Council initially opposed, but eventually passed.

According to The Washington Post, Fenty's legislative style was to focus on constituent services and take attention grabbing positions.

Fenty began his campaign to replace retiring mayor Anthony A. Williams in 2005.

Then-Council Chair Linda Cropp, businesswoman Marie Johns, then-Councilmember Vincent Orange, and lobbyist Michael A. Brown also vied for the position.

(That criticism is based on a 2005 incident in which he had received an informal admonition from the Bar for his role in a probate case in 1999.) The attacks backfired and Fenty won all 142 district precincts in the Democratic Primary—a feat unparalleled in earlier mayoral elections —defeating Cropp by a 57 to 31 percent margin.

He received 89 percent of the vote in the general election and became the District's sixth elected mayor since the establishment of home rule.

The race was widely viewed as neck-and-neck between Fenty and Cropp through the spring of 2006.

Fenty ran on a platform of bringing a more energetic and hands-on approach to district government,, advancing bold ideas for change, and sticking to them.

Fenty said he would take his uncompromising style to the mayor's office, and cited with approval, Margaret Thatcher's saying that, "Consensus is the absence of leadership".

Cropp stressed her 25 years of experience in district government and her desire to continue the progress made by Anthony Williams, who endorsed her candidacy.

She also stressed her ability to cooperate with diverse groups and reach consensus.

She criticized Fenty's proposed approach to governing; being mayor, saying the mayor's job is "not just standing up and saying, 'This is what I want done,' and miraculously it's going to happen."

Both candidates raised significant and nearly equal amounts of money – roughly $1.75 million through June 10, 2006 – and neither gained any significant advantages from the numerous candidate debates and forums.

By July 2006 polls showed Fenty with a roughly 10-point advantage; political observers debated whether it was due to Fenty's door-to-door campaign, Cropp's lack of engagement in the campaign, or the electorate's desire for a new direction.

Cropp's campaign began running negative attack ads during the month before the primary, painting Fenty as unfit for the job and as a careless lawyer who had been admonished by the D.C. Bar.

He then served as an aide to Councilmember Kevin P. Chavous, was elected to the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC), district 4C, and also was president of the 16th Street Neighborhood Civic Association.