Candidate Biography (submitted by campaign):

A successful entrepreneur and small business owner, John has business and public service expertise stretching over two decades.

With undergraduate and law degrees from Wake Forest University, John joined Belk Stores in 1983 serving as vice president in the legal department, and later Senior Vice President of Human Resources. In 1997, John founded Carolina Legal Staffing, which has grown to 4 offices in 2 states. The company was named to the INC5000 in 2007 and as a Top 100 Small Business in North Carolina in 2008

Since 2003, John has served as an at-large member of the Charlotte City Council and currently chairs the Economic Development and Planning Committee. He previously served on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education and served as vice chair from 1997 until 2001 and on the Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Commission. He is President of the Mecklenburg County Bar and Past-President of the Children's Law Center and has served on the boards for Crisis Assistance Ministries, Junior Achievement, Dowd YMCA, Center City Partners, North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, Leadership Charlotte and the Charlotte Regional Partnership. He currently serves on the Parent's Council at UNC Chapel Hill and served on the Law Alumni Council at Wake Forest University.

He is a 1991 fellow of the Institute of Political Leadership and a graduate of Leadership Charlotte, which recognized him with the Circle of Excellence award in 2001 and was most recently a member of Class 6 of CBI's Leadership Development Initiative.

John and his wife of 26 years, Beverly, have two sons, Ben, a CPA in Charlotte and Alex, a student at UNC.

Charlotte is facing three critical issues:  Creating jobs in a challenging economy, getting repeat criminals off the streets to keep our homes and businesses safe and keeping our taxes low and the quality of our public services high. Meeting these needs will require a record of experience and proven leadership, of public service and success in private enterprise, and a leader who balances family, professional life and commitment to this city.  We need to position our city as the most attractive community for business investment where it is easy for a company to expand or relocate its operations. We must rebuild our financial services sector while diversifying our economy in energy, healthcare and biotechnology. We need to continue to invest in our police force and while working with other cities across North Carolina to insure we get our share of criminal justice dollars. We need to watch our city budget like it is our own and find ways to stretch our limited funds to avoid the pattern of tax increases that continue in Raleigh and Washington.  We can provide a safe, clean and affordable community and create a city that is attractive for our children to live and work.