Ashton James Hayward III (born April 15, 1969) is an American real estate developer and politician who served as the 62nd

mayor of Pensacola The mayor of the City of Pensacola is the chief executive officer and holder of the city of Pensacola, Florida. The mayor's office is located at the city hall at 222 West Main Street in Downtown, and owns an estate near the Texar Bayou in East Pens ...

from 2011 to 2018. He is currently the president of the Andrews Research and Education Foundation. He was the first mayor elected under the "strong mayor" form of government adopted in 2009, which shifted the mayoral duties away from a ceremonial leader to that of the city's chief executive and decision-maker.

Early life

He was born and raised in Pensacola, graduating from

Pensacola Catholic High School Pensacola Catholic High School is a private, Roman Catholic, co-educational high school in Pensacola, Florida, United States. It was established in 1941 and is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee. History Pensac ...

in 1987. Hayward earned his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

at Florida State University. While in college, he took a break from studies in Miami, where he met his future wife, Belgian-born An (married 1996). For many years, Hayward and his wife lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, returning to Pensacola in 2003 to start a real estate development firm.

Political career

In 2015, Hayward was appointed to the Florida Commission on Community Service by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Rick Scott. During his time in office, he also rebranded the City of Pensacola with a new slogan, "Pensacola: The Upside of Florida" which also included stronger economic development efforts.

References

External links

Archived government website

Archived official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayward, Ashton 1969 births Mayors of Pensacola, Florida Florida State University alumni Living people Florida Republicans People from Escambia County, Florida People from Pensacola, Florida