I am Matt Orlando. For the past forty years, while living in Arizona, I have had the privilege to serve our great nation, state and city through my military, professional, and political careers. Pat, my wife of 44 years, and I were introduced to Arizona via my first assignment in the US Air Force. I retired as a Colonel after serving over four years on active duty and over 25 years in the Arizona Air National Guard. 

In addition to serving in the military, I served our nation through my employment over the past 35 years with several defense and space companies. Recently, I retired from Honeywell in my final role as the Director of Technical Sales and was responsible for business development, sales and marketing of more than $500 million worth of satellite, space and missile technology programs for commercial, DoD (US military and other government agencies) and classified sectors. I led a world-wide sales and business proposal team of 26 people and directed successful business ventures in the United States and internationally. In addition to working for Honeywell, I worked at Orbital Science (Space Data), Motorola, AlliedSignal and General Dynamics.

My unique background and experience involved with strategic planning, marketing, new business development, and creating winning growth campaigns vastly assisted me during my seventeen years as a Chandler City Council member. I was first elected to the Chandler City Council in 1990 and served over twenty years as an elected official.  I served from 1990-1998, from 2004-2013, and from 2018 to the present. During my time as a Council Member, I supported and led many activities that benefitted and “laid the foundation” for our community and our quality of life that we enjoy today -  specifically Police; Fire; Parks and Recreation programs; neighborhood enhancement programs; and economic development opportunities.

Pat and I have two sons, Matt and Anthony, and a daughter, Leah. All attended and graduated from Chandler Public Schools.

I am a native of Newark, NJ, graduated from Rutgers University, New Jersey with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and received a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Golden Gate University San Francisco, CA.