Biography for Graham Balch

Short Biography

Democratic State Senate candidate Graham Balch is a life-long Atlantan and award-winning public high school teacher.  He served in the Peace Corps in Guatemala and worked for several years in business including as the CEO of a small business before deciding to teach at Grady High School.  He has served on the board of his neighborhood association and NPU-E, is an elected post seat holder with the Fulton County Democratic Party and lives in Midtown with his wonderful family.

Full Biography

Democratic State Senate candidate Graham Balch was born at Piedmont Hospital and grew up in Atlanta.  While in high school, he helped the Atlanta Journal and Constitution become the first newspaper in the nation to print a recycling logo and message daily and at 15 started a recycling program among 50 neighbors that recycled over 40,000 lbs until the city of Atlanta began offering recycling services in 1991.

Balch worked in environmental politics for the Sierra Club legislative office and U.S. Representative Sherwood Boehlert, who was named the environmental legislator of the year by the League of Conservation Voters and backed by organized labor before Balch began his career in business working at Bain & Company, a strategy consulting firm.  He left to found ChangeAddress, an electronic platform for the change of address process that was named one of the top five new ventures in Georgia in 2000 by the Resource Institute.  After ChangeAddress was sold in 2001, Balch served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Guatemala as a municipal development volunteer helping to strengthen local democracy after the 35-year civil war that ravaged Guatemala.  Balch was elected President of the U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers in Guatemala and helped his town of Canillà found the largest per-capita library in the country of Guatemala, which is still operating and where you can find the town’s children learning to read today.

Balch returned to the United States and worked for the Boston Consulting Group as a management consultant.  He helped create the Atlanta Education Fund and rebuild the public school system in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina where he created and led the largest volunteer effort in U.S. history for a post-disaster recovery of a public institution in the United States.  In 2005, Balch founded the 21^st Century Atlanta Scholars with the help of Atlanta Superintendent Beverly Hall and Project GRAD.  Through his work with the 21^st Century Atlanta Scholars Balch helped raise over $20M in scholarships for students graduating from Therrell, Carver, South Atlanta and Booker T. Washington.

Balch left BCG to follow his heart and teach with the Atlanta Public Schools as a Teach For America teacher.  In his first year of teaching at Grady High School, he increased the number of students meeting expectations on the physical science EOCT by 200% and the number of students exceeding expectations by 500%.  In recognition for his success in the classroom, Balch received a fellowship through the National Science Foundation and was awarded the Atlanta Families Award in Education for Atlanta’s best teachers – the first time the AFAE award was given to a first-year teacher.  Since his first year, Balch has continued to help students close the achievement gap as his students ranked among the top 10% of high schools in Georgia on their Biology EOCT performance. In 2009-2010, Balch’s students achieved a 97% pass rate and 67% exceed ranking in the top 1% of students in Georgia.

Balch graduated cum laude from Middlebury College with a B.A. in environmental studies with honors and a minor in economics.  While at Middlebury, Balch hiked the 2,160 mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, served in student government and set the school records for the 1500M and the Distance Medley Relay in Track.    Balch received his MBA from the Wharton School of Business in strategic public leadership.  At Wharton, he was elected Chairman of the Ethics Committee and received a Morgenthau Public Administration Fellowship.  He also met his wife, Simone, who works in microfinance, a proven strategy to reduce poverty through loans given to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans.

Balch was a member of the 2007 LEAD Atlanta class, served on NPU-E in 2008-2009, and served on the board of his neighborhood, the Midtown Neighborhood Association.  Balch was given the 2009 Good Neighbor award in Midtown by the Midtown Neighbors’ Association for his volunteer efforts in Midtown and was inducted into the Outstanding Atlanta Class of 2009 honoring Balch’s commitment to Atlanta through service.  Currently, Balch is a member of the Georgia Association of Educators and a board member of Green Dragon Pest Solutions, Inc..  Balch was elected to office in 2008 as a post seat holder with the Democratic Party of Fulton and continues to serve the Democratic Party in this capacity today.

Balch and his wife have a wonderful daughter Sierra and two rescued dogs: Mocha and Osbourne.   Balch is a member of All Saints Episcopal Church.