Tommy Gong is in his first term as County Clerk-Recorder, after serving as the Assistant Clerk-Recorder for 10 years. Gong was born in Modesto, California and raised in the small town of Riverbank where his family ran a grocery store. After earning his Bachelor's at the University of California, Berkeley and a Master's of Business Administration at San Francisco State University, Tommy returned to the Central Valley to help run the family grocery business.
When the family sold the grocery business in 2003, Tommy was hired as Elections Manager in Stanislaus County. In 2005, Clerk-Recorder Julie Rodewald hired Tommy as the Assistant Clerk-Recorder in San Luis Obispo. And in 2014, when Julie announced her retirement, Tommy ran for public office and was elected as County Clerk-Recorder.
Amongst Tommy's major hobbies is the practicing and teaching of martial arts for over 30 years. His instructor was a student of the late Bruce Lee, and Tommy has served on the board of directors for the Bruce Lee Foundation (BLF), a non-profit organization founded by Lee's widow and daughter to build the Bruce Lee Action Museum in Seattle, Washington. Among Tommy's accomplishments was donating all the proceeds of his book to the BLF. Bruce Lee – The Evolution of a Martial Artist was the culmination of a five year project that chronicles Lee's development in the martial arts.
Tommy lives in Atascadero with his wife Sherry with their two boys, Derek (16) and Darin (14) who both attend local public schools.
