About - Team Biography

Team Biographies

staff John Cardoza, CAI BAS, CES, CAGA - Auctioneer/Owner
Started his career as an auctioneer by graduating from the Missouri Auction School in 1984. Having a speech impediment and taking 5 years of special speech in grade school made becoming an auctioneer a huge challenge. In the course of his career, John has earned his CAI, (Certified Auctioneer’s Institute) one of less than 20 auctioneers in the State of California. John also graduated from the Charter class for his BAS (Benefit Auction Specialist), received his CES (Certified Estate Specialist) and is a Certified Appraiser with CAGA (Certified Appraiser Guild of America). John is currently on the Board of Directors for the Western States Auction Association.

John has conducted thousands of auctions including Storage, Abandonment, Benefit, Estate, Bankruptcy, Antique, Government, and Business Liquidations. He lived on Princess, Norwegian, and Crystal Cruise Lines conducting art auctions. He has also been on 5 episodes of the hit reality TV show about storage auctions, “Auction Hunters.”

When he is not working with auctions, John enjoys motorcycle riding, Dancing, and cruises. He met his love, Donna on Match.com in 2002 and the rest is history. John has a daughter, Melodee, his son-in-law Caleb, and two grandchildren Autumn & Braden.


staff Donna Cardoza, Owner
Retired after twenty five years as a 9-1-1 Police and Fire Emergency Services Dispatcher for the City of Turlock. If that wasn’t stressful enough, she is now involved in the day to day operations of Storage Auction Experts. Sometimes you might even see Donna at the auctions!

John shocked everyone (especially Donna) by proposing to her while conducting the auction for the annual Turlock Police Department Christmas party (how appropriate) in 2006. Donna was widowed in 1999 and has two daughters, Christina and Stephanie.

Christina is married to Jason and is a Store Manager for a major retail store. Her husband Jason is an auctioneer for Storage Auction Experts. They reside in Gilroy with their two pit bulls. Donna's other daughter Stephanie works for the State of California as an Attorney. Her husband, Tarek, is a personal Banker for a major bank. They are the proud parents of daughters, Elliana and Mila, they live in Sacramento.

While not at auctions Donna enjoys reading, jewelry making, baking and travelling and spending time with her girlfriends. She loves her animals and likes to become involved in her community towards a good cause.


staffJason Whitt - Auctioneer
Jason decided to change careers after being involved with recovery programs for 11 years. Jason was a drug and alcohol counselor for 7 years and was promoted to an intake coordinator. Jason is happily married to his wife Christina and has one son. In his spare time Jason is an avid Oakland Raiders fan. Jason is a member of the Impalas car club and has 2 1968 Impalas.







staff Travis Regalo - Auctioneer
I have been working with John my whole life volunteering with nonprofit auctions and always had the desire to work with auctions. I come from a big family who is always there to support me, and I am grateful for having wonderful parents with a keen sense of humor. I am the youngest of 4, I have one sister and two brothers, both who are in the military. I’m looking forward to learning more of life’s lessons, as I have recently become an uncle to a beautiful baby girl. My Family and I are always involved with our community and non profits, the most common charity you would find us would be in Hopeton (by Snelling) located at the Saint John’s Festa grounds. I am Portuguese descent as is common here in the Central Valley and I have become active with this culture. When I am not with Storage Auction Experts, you can find me bullfighting or hanging out with my team as I am a “Forcado” for Aposento de Turlock. This has taught me a lot about life and the history of the culture, and how important it is to stay active in our community. I am looking forward to meeting all of our friends with Storage Auction Experts!


staffChris Holsombach - Auctioneer
Chris is a U.S. Army veteran and has an Associate degree in Business Administration. Chris started in the auction industry in June of 2018 as a lock cutter for J. Michaels Auctions. When J. Michaels Auctions decided to no longer offer lock cutting or live auctions, Chris started his own lock cutting service, Auction Ready, in Southern California. Chris is a graduate of World Wide College of Auctioneering and joined Storage Auction Experts as an auctioneer in October of 2020.

Chris and his wife Chrissy are a blended family and have four children, two boys and two girls and one granddaughter. Chrissy has an Associate degree in Communications and is a manager for Extra Space Storage. When Chris and Chrissy have free time, they are avid campers and love to travel this beautiful country.


staff Cory Murphy, Office Manager
Cory Murphy, office manager by day, quilter by night. Cory has a background in bookkeeping and merchandiser management that lends itself well to the day to day operations of managing the auction and lock-cut schedules for John, Jason, Craig, Travis and Stephen.

She and her husband have a blended family of 3 boys and 3 girls that they jokingly refer to as the Murphy Bunch. They also have 5 grandchildren. The three oldest grandchildren arrived within 6 months of each other so they didn’t just dabble in the grandparent thing, they dove in headfirst.

When not working with Storage Auction Experts, Cory is Free-motion quilting for clients. Cory learned to quilt in high school from her Mom and friends. She tells people her Mom gave her the quilt bug and she hasn’t been able to shake it. Cory also leads the Hugs Ministry of First Southern Baptist Church of Waterford. She and her friends (Brenda included) make quilts for children in crisis situations. They are given to the local fire departments and police departments to have on hand when the need arises.


staff Melodee Cluster, Social Media Assistant
Melodee lives in Oregon, and is John Cardoza’s daughter. Melodee assists with social media, and emails the auction updates as well as sends tweets via Twitter. She was raised with a healthy amount of positive auction exposure. Melodee is happily married to Caleb Cluster, and they have two children; a daughter named Autumn, and a son named Braden. Melodee graduated with her Associates of General Studies in June of 2014, bachelor’s in Speech Communication in 2015. She received her a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a Speech Communication focus form Oregon State University in 2017. Her husband, Caleb graduated from OSU also with a bachelor’s in Manufacturing Engineering, and is employed at a local company as an Engineer. Melodee is Independent Distributor for Young Living, and enjoys assisting women with their wellness goals. Besides work, Melodee enjoys spending time with family, and friends. Melodee and Caleb have multiple hobbies, and enjoy doing just about anything exciting; travelling, shopping, rock climbing, camping and many other active pastimes.