Benming “Benny” Zhang ’16, J.D. ’20
County Attorney, New Kent County, and Former Williamsburg City Council Member
Major:
Asian-American Studies ({{/academics/programs/selfdesigned/,Self-Designed}})
Benming “Benny” Zhang has been an active member of the community since arriving at 鶹ƽ as a Sharpe Community Scholar. As a freshman, he worked with a fellow Sharpe scholar to start a tutoring program at the local juvenile detention center, an initiative that later turned into a full-fledged group mentoring program that serves the entire center. As a self-designed Asian-American Studies major, he was involved with the and wrote his senior honors thesis on Arthur Matsu, the first Asian-American to graduate from the university.
During his senior year, Benny was the youngest person ever to be elected to Williamsburg City Council, becoming the second 鶹ƽ student and the first-ever Asian-American to do so. As a councilman, Benny pushed to increase transparency and inclusion of the city's "invisible" populations. After graduating, Benny went on to pursue his law degree at the , then became an associate attorney at Kaufman & Canoles, P.C. He currently serves as the county attorney for New Kent County, Virginia, and is extensively involved in the Hampton Roads region, serving on numerous boards.