Will make career move to Contra Costa County
–Tommy Gong, the County Clerk-Recorder for San Luis Obispo since 2015, announced his resignation from the post as he accepts employment as the Deputy County Clerk-Recorder for Contra Costa County. “This is an opportunity of a lifetime and extremely fortunate for me, as I have desired to be closer to my family,” says Gong.
Gong grew up in the small town of Riverbank, just east of Modesto in the Central Valley, where his family operated a family grocery store. When he completed his college education at U.C. Berkeley and San Francisco State University, Gong returned to the family grocery business, then in Patterson during the nineties. After selling the family business, he began his career in public service as Elections Manager for Stanislaus County in 2003. He accepted the position of Assistant County Clerk-Recorder for SLO County in 2005, then was elected as SLO County Clerk-Recorder in 2014. After 16 years in SLO County, Gong will continue his public service for Contra Costa County and its 1.1 million residents.
“When I moved to SLO County, I realized that I would be moving quite a distance from my family, but my focus was on raising our young family,” Gong states, “but now that they are grown up, my focus has shifted to my elderly parents.” This was especially difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he had not seen his parents in over 1 and 1/2 years: “16 years ago, I didn’t feel the same level of responsibility I do now for my parents and family, but now I am 16 years older.” Gong is the only son of his family with three sisters, whose extended family primarily reside in Northern California and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Gong will be leaving the clerk-recorder department in a good position as he was able to recently fill the two deputy director leadership positions created to support the increasing demands of the department: “We are at full capacity, staff-wise, and I know I am leaving the office in great hands with equally committed and dedicated staff through the transition.”
His last day in the office will be July 2. Gong concludes, “I am truly grateful to San Luis Obispo County for providing me the opportunity to serve the community and hone my craft in elections and Clerk-Recorder functions. I will carry fond memories of spending almost a 1/3 of my life here.”
