Mormons select 3 new leaders; all from Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — The Mormon church has chosen three new members for a top governing body that sets policy and runs the faith’s business operations — all are from Utah.

The new members of the religion’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were all serving in lower-level church leadership positions and had held executive posts previously in the private sector.

Ronald A. Rasband is a former CEO of a chemical corporation. Gary E. Stevenson was the co-founder and president of an exercise equipment manufacturing company. Dale G. Renlund was a cardiologist and directed a cardiac transplant program.

Their selections were announced Saturday during The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ conference in Salt Lake City by Henry B. Eyring, a member of the quorum.

The selections prove outside church scholars wrong who speculated that one of the selections would be a person from outside North America and from a country never before represented on the governing body. The one member of the current board from outside the United States remains Dieter F. Uchtdorf, who was born in Czechoslovakia and raised in Germany.

The selections are safe, solid and comfortable decisions that fit the template for choosing modern apostles in the church, said Patrick Mason, associate professor of religion at Claremont Graduate University in California and Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies.

They all have served many years in church leadership, and are in the 60-65 age group — a sweet spot for men to begin tenures on the quorum, Mason said.

Though all three men have distinguished records in church leadership and in their private careers, some Latter-day Saints will be disappointed that the church didn’t pick a minority or someone from outside the U.S, Mason said.

But Mason points out that Renlund and Stevenson have held major leadership positions with the church in foreign countries: Renlund in Africa and Stevenson in Japan.

“That suggests they that care about finding leaders with international experience, but don’t feel like the leaders must themselves come from outside the U.S.,” Mason said.

Matthew Bowman, associate professor of history at Henderson State University, said he was surprised the church didn’t select somebody from the global South. But he said he still thinks that will eventually happen.

The announcements marked a rare moment in church history. It had been six years since a new quorum member was chosen, and more than a decade since the leadership council had two openings. The last time there were three was in 1906.

The new members of the quorum are the 98th, 99th and 100th members of the governing body. They are scheduled to speak later Saturday afternoon at a news conference, and give speeches at church conference Sunday morning.

Modeled after Jesus Christ’s apostles, the group serves under the church president and his two counselors.

The new appointees start as junior members, but they could someday become church president because the group’s longest-tenured member ascends to president when the current one dies.

Rasband, 64, of Salt Lake City, will enter the quorum with seniority over the other two because he was the first to be informed of his selection earlier this week, church officials said in a news release.

Rasband has been on a lower-level leadership council called the Quorum of the Seventy since 2000. He was senior president of that quorum since April 2009. He was previously CEO of the Huntsman Chemical Corporation before going to work for the church. He and his wife have five children.

Rasband said in a church news release that he’s honored to be chosen and will devote everything he has until the day he dies.

Stevenson, 60, of Ogden, was first called to the Quorum of the Seventy in 2008. Before going to work for the church, he co-founded and was president of an exercise equipment manufacturing company. He and his wife have four children.

Stevenson said in the news release that getting the call that he had been chosen was a “knee-buckling moment” for him. He says he approaches church service with a simple philosophy: “Keeping the commandments brings blessings, and blessings bring happiness.”

Renlund, 62, of Salt Lake City, has been on the Quorum of the Seventy since 2009. Prior to joining church offices, Renlund was a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Utah and medical director of a cardiac transplant program. He and his wife have one daughter.

Renlund said in the news release that he was shocked by the appointment. He said he found himself in the “sweet spot in between apoplectic and catatonic,” and later went back to his office and fell to his knees.

Quorum members serve until they die, and three recent deaths created the unprecedented void.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

The Washington State University Snohomish County Extension building at McCollum Park is located in an area Snohomish County is considering for the location of the Farm and Food Center on Thursday, March 28, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Year-round indoor farmers market inches closer to reality near Mill Creek

The Snohomish County Farm and Food Center received $5 million in federal funding. The county hopes to begin building in 2026.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.