Gon was born in Honolulu Hawaiʻi on December 16, 1955, and graduated in 1973 from McKinley High School[2] and earned a Bachelor's in Zoology (1978) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

[4] He continued his education at the University of California at Davis[4] earning his Master's in Zoology (1980) and a PhD in animal behavior (1984), studying the Happy-face Spider, Theridion grallator.

After attaining his Ph.D., Gon worked for a year in the Entomology Department of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu, before being hired by The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii in 1986.

In that organization, he served as an exploratory ecologist (1986-1990), Director of the Hawaiʻi Natural Heritage Program (1991-2002), and Senior Scientist and Cultural Advisor (2003-present) through his career, he orchestrated research and initiatives that supported The Conservancyʻs work to preserve Hawaii's biodiversity.

[7] Gon helped establish ecological analysis and biodiversity data management systems for projects in East Asia, Latin America, Polynesia, and Micronesia.