Fontes joined the laboratory in 1991 and has served under all three CHESS Directors to date - Batterman, Gruner, and Brock - and has witnessed the growth of CHESS from an experiment parasitic to the particle physics program to being a national user facility and a third generation dedicated light source.  Over that time his roles have evolved from beamline scientist to assistant and associate director, to project manager for upgrade projects and NSF Mid-scale projects (HMF and XLEAP), and he currently holds the position of Technical Director for CLASSE.