Senator Dean, a Democrat, is chairman of the Finance and Public Utilities committee and is secretary of the Interstate Cooperation committee. He is a member of the influential Appropriations and Rules committees. He also serves on the Transportation committee, and the Reapportionment Committee. Senator Dean is an ex-officio member of the Corrections, Correctional Institutions and Property committee.

In addition to his standing committee posts, Senator Dean has also headed or served on a number other legislative panels including the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority Overview (MARTOC) Committee; the Transportation Study Committee, the Music Industry Study Committee and the Joint Study Committee on Local Government Services.

Dean is a former member of the Senate Administrative Affairs Committee and the Senate Decorum Committee and currently serves on the Fiscal Affairs Subcommittee, which is responsible for approving the transfer of state funds within agencies and departments when the General Assembly is not in session.

Dean is a veteran member of the Senate Democratic Caucus's Policy Committee and is currently the Caucus' Chairman. He is a former member of the Executive Committee of the Democratic Party of Georgia and served as an assistant administration floor leader for ex-Governor Joe Frank Harris.

Active in national legislative organizations, Dean represents Georgia on the Legislative Management Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the Fiscal Affairs and Government Operations Committee of the Southern Legislative Conference (SLC).

Born May 9, 1934 in Rockmart, Dean graduated from Rockmart High School and Shorter College and served in the U.S. Army.

He has spent three decades in political life including several terms in the Georgia House of Representatives and on the Rockmart City Council.

The veteran lawmaker has received numerous awards for his legislative services including "Man of the Year" Awards from the Rockmart Jaycees and the Bremen Rotary Club.

He has also been named "Man of the Year for Civic Affairs" by the Cedartown Chamber of Commerce and "Senator of the Year" by the Georgia Municipal Association, the Georgia Mental Health Association, and the Georgia Association for Retarded Citizens.

He has also been honored by the Georgia Municipal Association, the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia, Kennesaw College and the Georgia Fireman's Pension Fund and has been named a lifetime member of the Georgia Peace Officers Association.

Senator Dean, an insurance executive, is active in community and civic affairs. Those activities include: the Rockmart-Aragon Touchdown Club (past-president); the Rockmart-Aragon Little League; Chambers of Commerce of Rockmart, Cedartown and Cartersville; the Polk and Bartow County Farm Bureaus; the Masons, Shriners and Odd Fellows; the Northwest Council for Boy Scouts; Cedartown, Haralson County and Bartow County Historical Societies; and mental retardation programs in Douglasville and Polk, Bartow, and Paulding Counties.

He is also a member of the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities and the North Metro Technical Institute Foundation.

Dean and his wife, Ann, are the parents of two sons, Alan and Scott. The Deans are Baptists.

The 31st Senatorial District includes: Polk, Haralson, and Paulding Counties and a portion of Bartow County.

November 1998