Candidate for
Council Member; City of Kingsburg

Chet has been a resident of the Central Valley his entire life. He graduated from Reedley High School in 1982.

After co-founding Total Pay Management (a payroll services company) in the Van Beurden offices on Draper Street in Kingsburg in 1994, Chet and his family moved to Kingsburg in 1996 and have been residents ever since. Total Pay Management grew from a local start-up with 1 employee to a nationally recognized payroll services company. In 2000, the company earned a place in the prestigious Inc. 500, being recognized as one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the United States. Chet was also well known and respected within the payroll industry and was elected National President and a member of the National Board of Directors of the industry's trade association.

Chet sold Total Pay Management in 2004 and after working through the transition to the acquirer, he retired at the age of 40. Chet soon became bored with retirement and began to look for ways to keep busy. Chet was accepted into the Master's of Public Administration program at Fresno State and will be completing his Master's degree at the end of the fall semester 2008. Chet was inducted as a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society in recognition of his outstanding 4.0 academic achievements. During his studies, he was selected as a Maddy Institute Legislative Scholar and was privileged to intern in the Fresno Field Office of Governor Schwarzenegger. During his time there, Chet not only handled a multitude of constituency services, but met with numerous Superintendent of Schools in the Central Valley to determine the impact of the federal "No Child Left Behind" education policy on valley school districts.

Chet was married in 2006 to the former Lisa Marie Cuelho of Hanford and started the Kingsburg version of the Brady Bunch, with 6 kids (Megan-21, Jason-20,Patrick- 18, Ryan-17, Erin -16, and Ciera-11) and the long time family cat, Luke. Too add a little more chaos to the mix, the family added two bassett hounds, Linus and Leonard, who are regular participants in the annual bassett waddle during the Swedish Festival parade. Lisa retired from her work as a psychiatric nurse in the state hospitals to care full-time for the large family.

The children have been active in Kingsburg Schools and sports. Megan was a member of the Jazz Choir and had the starring role as "Annie" in the school play during her Senior year. Megan recently graduated from Fresno State with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism and has worked as a reporter for both the Selma Enterprise and Kingsburg Recorder. Jason was a member of the Hanford High School football team, earning All-League honorable mention his senior year. Patrick graduated from Kingsburg High School in 2008 and will be attending the Engineering School at Fresno State in the Fall. He served as an FFA officer for 2 years and earned Academic Block K for achieving a 4.0 GPA in six out of eight semesters. Ryan played JV Football his sophomore year and is a member of the Varsity Football team this year and has regularly been on the Honor Roll. Ryan is a member of the FFA and was recognized as the top welding student in the program. Erin is a 4.0 student, has been a member of the Marching Band, Wind Ensemble, and the Concert Choir. Erin was recently selected as a member of the Jazz Choir this year. Ciera is active in sports as a member of the traveling U-12 and now U-14 Division 3 girls soccer team and was a member of the traveling girls basketball team. Ciera has also earned both citizenship and honor roll recognition on numerous occasions