California 99.07%
Massachusetts 0.93%
The Matt Kokkonen story is really a story about the American Dream. A story of a young immigrant who came to our shores at the age of sixteen by himself and through education, hard work, and strong religious faith, built a very successful insurance and financial services firm in San Luis Obispo.
Matt was selected as the Junior Ambassador from Finland to Disneyland at the age of 11.
Now, Matt Kokkonen is continuing his political activism by running for US Congress. Matt's candidacy is not only a way to repay his adopted nation for the great opportunities he was afforded, but to bring a strong commitment to conservative Republican principles to Washington.
The Matt Kokkonen story is really a story about the American Dream. A story of a young immigrant who came to our shores at the age of sixteen by himself and through education, hard work, and strong religious faith, built a very successful insurance and financial services firm in San Luis Obispo.
Matt was selected as the Junior Ambassador from Finland to Disneyland at the age of 11.
Now, Matt Kokkonen is continuing his political activism by running for US Congress. Matt's candidacy is not only a way to repay his adopted nation for the great opportunities he was afforded, but to bring a strong commitment to conservative Republican principles to Washington.
Matt Kokkonen was born in Helsinki, Finland. After the death of his father when Matt was 13, he told his mother he wanted to go to America. Three years later when his visa came through, Matt immigrated to America from Finland at age 16 by himself. A graduate of prestigious Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Matt holds a BA degree in Philosophy, and two Masters degrees in Management and in Financial Services and has been a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) since 1973 and a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC ) since 1982.
He is also a Family Business Specialist and has owned the Matt Kokkonen Insurance and Financial Services agency in downtown San Luis Obispo since 1975, having been a trusted financial advisor to thousands of clients on the Central Coast and across the country. He has lectured widely in the United States and in Western Europe on financial planning and insurance issues for families, as well as helping businesses design effective executive compensation and employee benefit plans. A very rewarding area has been in assisting family businesses with their succession plans. He speaks four languages.
Matt is past two term President of the California Central Coast Chapter of Financial Service Professionals and the San Luis Obispo County Chapter of the Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.
As a conservative, he believes in states rights and limited federal government powers as stated in the 10th Amendment of the Constitution. Committed to doing what's right, regardless of the risk or cost, Matt successfully took on a giant insurance company, fighting the case all the way to the United States Supreme Court and winning in a unanimous 9-0 vote in 1994 this significant constitutional issue limiting federal jurisdiction.
A current and seven term elected member of the San Luis Obispo County Republican Central Committee, Matt won the primary election to be the Republican nominee in the 2008 Congressional election against Lois Capps. He was also elected several times to the Board of Directors of the Squire Canyon Community Services District and also served as its treasurer.
Matt was on the Board of Directors of Air-Vol Block, Inc., a manufacturing company in San Luis Obispo. He also served as Chairman of Simpson University Investment Committee in Redding, CA, and served Grace Church of San Luis Obispo for over 30 years as Trustee, Deacon and Secretary. He has also served on the Budget Advisory Committee of the San Luis Coastal Unified School District.
Matt is a Pilot and has participated in Search and Rescue missions with San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Aero Squadron for over 20 years and served as First Lieutenant and pilot in the Civil Air Patrol. He holds an Honorable Discharge from the California National Guard. He flies a Helio Courier 295 tail dragger, an STOL aircraft.
Matt served as 33rd District Co-Chair of the Recall Gray Davis campaign and 33rd District Co-Chair of "Save our Licenses," aimed at repealing the law granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
In 2008, Matt won the primary election for Republican nominee for Congress and ran against incumbent Lois Capps. The highly gerrymandered district favoring democrats by almost 30% was tailored for Capps, but Kokkonen still received over 80,000 votes. Now the district registrations favor democrats by only 3%. He looks forward to this competitive election.
Matt and his wife of 48 years, Jean, have two children, Jana, an Air Force Academy graduate, current Lt Colonel (reserves) and Emergency Medicine doctor at French Hospital, and Daniel, a computer tech service company owner. They have the two cutest granddaughters ever.
