Charlie Balch's Biography

My experience with the Virgin Islands begins in grade school where I attended Antilles and Robert Herrick (now Sibley). I spent most summers in the islands while attending high school and college in the states.

I'm well educated. My first degree is from the University of California at Davis in Psychophysiology (an independently created degree). I have also earned Masters Degrees in Business and Education from the University of the Virgin Islands.

Computers have been a central theme in my life and I expect them to play a central role in my campaign and creating effective results as a senator. I worked my way through college creating computer applications and continue to take great joy in creating applications that help people communicate. Upon my return to the islands, I spent a short time running a computer consulting company before following in my father's footsteps to teach at the University of the Virgin Islands.

I have the type of experience a senator needs. I've spent the last ten years teaching Computer Information Systems at UVI. Seven of those years were in St. Croix. At UVI, I spent a year as the Faculty representative to the Board of Trustees during which time the board voted to provide some of the retroactive pay due professors (smart move: As under-paid faculty left, they had to be replaced with faculty who could only be recruited with the much higher prevalent salaries. Losing faculty was costing us lots of money.) My last two years have been spent as the Vice Chair of faculty and the last three as the Coordinator of the Computer Information Systems component.

Sailing is an important part of my life. UVI provides faculty the opportunity to take summers off (without pay). I've taken full advantage of this to sail throughout the Caribbean visiting almost every island from here to South America. I've learned to love all the islands of the Caribbean and their peoples. In addition, sailing (mostly by myself) for months on end has taught me much of discipline and personal responsibility. On an even smaller scale than our islands, decisions on a boat are life and death.

I'm a licensed US Sail sailing instructor and US Coast Guard Captain. I've volunteered time for the Kids And The Sea (KATS) program and taught a variety of sailing clinics. I've been Race Director of numerous major Sailing Regattas.

I've been very happily married for the last three years. My wife is a manager in the hospitality industry.

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