Mayor Pro Tempore

Gary was born in Huntington Park in 1950, but became a native Orange Countian shortly thereafter, when he and his family moved to Balboa in the City of Newport Beach. Gary grew his family roots in Balboa, and his parents still live there today. He attended Newport Harbor High School and Orange Coast College, and excelled in athletics as a member of each institution's water polo and swimming teams. Gary was named to the 1968 high school All American swim team, and the 1969 and 1970 community college All American swim teams. After finishing two years at OCC, he completed his education at California State University, Long Beach where in 1973 he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration. In 1974, he bought his first home in Santa Ana and lived there until 1987 when he relocated to Rancho Santa Margarita. 

During his high school and college days, Gary spent much of his free time working in the sport fishing industry as a deckhand, and later captain of several sport fishing boats operating from Newport Harbor. He obtained his U.S. Coast Guard Master's License in 1971 and at the time became the youngest licensed sport fishing boat captain on the west coast. Although he left the business as a full time occupation in 1977, he maintains his license and continues to occasionally captain fishing boats for his brother, owner of Newport Landing Sportfishing.

Gary retired in 2007 after a successful 30 year career with the Federal government, specifically, the Department of the Navy. During his career with the Navy he held numerous planning, production, training and management positions within various agencies and aspects of naval ship repair. His last assignment prior to retirement in 2007 was with the Navy's Southwest Regional Maintenance Center in San Diego, a military shore command responsible for maintenance and repairs of Pacific Fleet ships home ported in San Diego. Gary was assigned as the Deputy Submarine Repair Officer within the Submarine Maintenance Division. As the senior civilian manager, he was responsible for management oversight of a workforce of over 250 military and civilian personnel assigned responsibility for the planning, scheduling and execution of complex maintenance and repairs performed on San Diego based nuclear submarines. 

Gary is currently employed as a municipal financial analyst for a multi-disciplined engineering and local government municipal services consulting firm, providing professional consulting services to local, state and federal agencies. Gary specializes in fiscal studies for local government agencies, including fee studies, consolidation studies, municipal service reviews, and incorporation and annexation studies. 

After relocating to Rancho Santa Margarita in 1987, when the community was just beginning to develop, Gary became active in the community in a variety of areas. He co-founded and served on the Board of Directors of the Rancho Santa Margarita Cityhood Committee, the grass roots volunteer organization that brought cityhood to RSM. He also served for 5 years on the Board of Directors of SAMLARC, RSM's largest master homeowners association, 3 years as its Vice President. Gary later served for 2 years on the Rancho Santa Margarita Civic Council and as a member of the Santa Margarita Water District Citizen's Advisory Board, a consumer advisory group sponsored by the SMWD Board of Directors.

Gary was elected to Rancho Santa Margarita’s first City Council in November of 1999 during the city’s incorporation election. He has served on the City Council since incorporation, having been re-elected in 2002 and 2006. Gary served as the city's Mayor Pro Tempore in 2002, 2007 and 2008 and Mayor in 2003. He also serves as the city's representative on the Transportation Corridor System Board of Directors, the Orange County Vector Control District Board of Trustees, and the Orange County Public Library Advisory Board. Gary also served for three years from 2003 through 2005 on the Advocacy Committee for the Orange County Division of the League of California Cities, and as the city’s representative on the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority Board of Directors from 2000 through 2007, serving as Vice-Chairman in 2003 and 2004.