Candidate Biography (submitted by candidate):

Chris Dixon, age 39, is an IT industry analyst, providing market insights to technology companies that do business with state and local governments. Previously, he provided non-partisan policy research to state government technology leaders nationwide. With more than a decade of private-sector experience in the field, Chris's background makes him ideally suited to help North Carolina's legislature use technology to improve services and increase accountability to save money for taxpayers during these difficult economic times.

Chris has personal and family connections across the entire 48th senate district. He and his wife, Betsy, recently celebrated their 14th anniversary. They were married in Fletcher (Henderson County). They make their home in Arden (Buncombe County), where their son attends public elementary school. They have family in Buncombe, Henderson, and Polk counties. Betsy teaches youth dance part-time in Fletcher.

He began his professional career locally with United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County, including positions with First Call for Help and the Community Fund. This experience gave him early insights into the social and economic issues affecting local communities as well as the valiant efforts of not-for-profits and faith-based organizations tackling these concerns.

Chris grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, where his father retired from the U.S. Army in 1975. He holds a bachelor's degree from Morningside College, a small United Methodist-affiliated college in Sioux City, Iowa. He moved to Western North Carolina in 1995 shortly after meeting Betsy at the wedding of a mutual friend.

As an Eagle Scout, Chris takes seriously his pledge to do his duty to God and country and looks forward to providing energetic representation for all the citizens of Buncombe, Henderson, and Polk counties.

In his free time, Chris tries to "play" the electric guitar and hopes someday to be even half as good as Ernie Isley.

We can develop homegrown jobs if we put our minds to it.

• First, we should maximize the success of our existing local businesses.
• After that, we should work to attract small-scale, fast-growing, and environmentally friendly industries to this area. We have the quality of life and skilled workforce that can attract entrepreneurs.
• However, we will need to bring together community banks, K-12 educators, community/technical colleges, and the remaining regional manufacturers along with bi-partisan political leaders to determine a new way forward ... because the old way isn't working.

I decided to run to represent Buncombe, Henderson, and Polk counties in the North Carolina state senate after the closing of the Volvo Construction Equipment plant in Arden in December 2009. This closure sent nearly 300 of Western North Carolina's few remaining good-paying manufacturing jobs to Pennsylvania, South Korea, and Sweden.

I've been blessed to have rewarding work in my adult life and feel that anyone who's willing and able to work should have the same opportunities as I've had. We shouldn't have a local economy that sits back and waits for other people to bring their money into the area--especially in this national recession. We need to set our minds to creating a balanced economy that includes health care, manufacturing, retail, property development, and agriculture. A balanced economy is a sustainable one.

A state senator can't create jobs, but I can work with those who do and fight for them in Raleigh. If the state has resources to help in a certain area, I will bring them back to Western North Carolina. If the state needs to get out of the way in a certain area, I will work on that, too. Either way, you can expect me to provide determined representation for this district in Raleigh.