Ashton James Hayward III (born April 15, 1969) is the mayor of Pensacola, Florida, having taken office on January 10, 2011. He is the first mayor elected under the new "strong mayor" form of government adopted in 2009.

He was born and raised in Pensacola, graduating from Pensacola Catholic High School

Pensacola Catholic High School

Pensacola Catholic High School is a Roman Catholic diocesan high school in Pensacola, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee. It is co-educational, organized on the 9-12 plan with an enrollment of over 600 students...

 in 1987. Hayward earned his bachelor's degree at Florida State University

Florida State University

The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...

, graduating in December 1993. While in college, he took a break from studies to model in Miami, where he met his future wife, Belgian-born An (they would marry in 1996). For many years, the Haywards made New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 home, returning to Pensacola in 2003 to start a real estate development firm, Pair & Hayward Properties.

Hayward ran against the incumbent, Mike Wiggins, and two other candidates, Diane Mack and Charles Bare, for the office of mayor of Pensacola in 2010. After none of the candidates received an outright majority in August elections, Hayward and Wiggins advanced to a runoff election, held November 2, 2010. The Pensacola News Journal

Pensacola News Journal

The Pensacola News Journal is a daily morning newspaper serving Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida. It is Northwest Florida's most widely-read daily....

endorsed Hayward prior to the election. On November 2, Hayward defeated Wiggins by a vote count of 10,645 to 9,837 – a margin of 808 votes. Wiggins did not contest the tight vote and conceded that evening.