Eight New General Authority Seventies Announced at April 2018 General Conference
Elder Carl B. Cook and Elder Robert C. Gay named to Presidency of the Seventy
President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the calls of eight General Authority Seventies and 55 Area Seventies during the Saturday afternoon session of the April 2018 general conference. He also announced that Elder Carl B. Cook and Elder Robert C. Gay will serve in the Presidency of the Seventy, filling the vacancies left by the calls of Elder Gerrit W. Gong and Elder Ulisses S. Soares to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
General Authority Seventies serve in the Presidency of the Seventy, in area presidencies, and in other headquarters administrative functions. Under the direction of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, they travel frequently to meet with and teach Church leaders, missionaries and members of the Church in local congregations. They have authority to serve anywhere in the world, while the authority of Area Seventies is generally limited to the area where they serve.
Below are links to biographical information for new members of the Presidency of the Seventy and new General Authority Seventies, as well as the names of newly called Area Seventies:
New Members of the Presidency of the Seventy
Elder Carl B. Cook
Elder Robert C. Gay
General Authority Seventies
Elder Steven R. Bangerter
Matthew L. Carpenter
Elder Jack N. Gerard
Elder Mathias Held
Elder David P. Homer
Elder Kyle S. McKay
Elder Juan Pablo Villar
Elder Takashi Wada
Area Seventies
Richard K. Ahadjie
Alberto A. Álvarez
Duane D. Bell
Glenn Burgess
Víctor R. Calderón
Ariel E. Chaparro
Daniel Córdova
John N. Craig
Michael Cziesla
William H. Davis
Richard J. DeVries
Kylar G. Dominguez
Sean Douglas
Michael A. Dunn
Kenneth J. Firmage
Edgar Flores
Silvio Flores
Saulo G. Franco
Carlos A. Genaro
Mark A. Gilmour
Sergio A. Gómez
Roberto Gonzalez
Virgilio Gonzalez
Spencer R. Griffin
Matthew S. Harding
David J. Harris
Kevin J. Hathaway
Richard Holzapfel
Eustache Ilunga
Okechukwu I. Imo
Peter M. Johnson
Michael D. Jones
Pungwe S. Kongolo
George Kenneth G. Lee
Aretemio C. Maligon
Edgar A. Mantilla
Lincoln P. Martins
Clement M. Matswagothata
Carl R. Maurer
Daniel S. Mehr II
Glen D. Mella
Isaac K. Morrison
Yutaka Nagatomo
Allistair B. Odgers
R. Jeffrey Parker
Victor P. Patrick
Denis E. Pineda
Henrique S. Simplicio
Jeffrey H. Singer
Michael L. Staheli
Djarot Subiantoro
Jeffrey K. Wetzel
Michael S. Wilstead
Helmut Wondra
David L. Wright
New Young Women Presidency Announced at April 2018 General Conference
New first counselor named in the Primary general presidency
The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a new Young Women general presidency and a new first counselor in the Primary general presidency during the Saturday afternoon session of the 188th Annual General Conference. President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency announced that Bonnie H. Cordon will serve as general president of the Young Women organization, which is for female Church members ages 12 through 17. Michelle Craig has been called as the first counselor, and Becky Craven will serve as second counselor.
Below is biographical information for each member of the new presidency:
Young Women President: Bonnie H. Cordon
Sister Bonnie H. Cordon was called as the new Young Women general president. At the time of her call, Sister Cordon was serving as the first counselor in the Primary general presidency.
Sister Cordon served with her husband, Derek, as he presided over the Brazil Curitiba Mission. She has also served in various callings in the Primary, Young Women and Relief Society organizations. She served a full-time mission in the Portugal Lisbon Mission.
Sister Cordon received a bachelor’s degree in education from Brigham Young University. She worked in management in the software industry.
Sister Cordon and her husband are the parents of four children and have four grandsons.
Young Women First Counselor: Michelle D. Craig
Sister Michelle D. Craig was called as the first counselor in the Young Women general presidency. Sister Craig was serving as a member of the Primary general board at the time of her call.
She has served in many positions in the Primary, Young Women and Relief Society organizations, as well as gospel doctrine teacher in Sunday School. Sister Craig served a mission in the Dominican Republic Santo Domingo Mission.
She received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Brigham Young University.
Sister Craig and her husband, E. Boyd Craig, have three children and six grandchildren.
Young Women Second Counselor: Becky Craven
Sister Becky Craven was called as the second counselor is the Young Women general presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in March 2018.
Sister Craven’s parents joined the Church when she was four-years-old while her father, a career Army officer, was stationed at Ft. Bliss, Texas. She received a bachelor’s degree in interior design from Brigham Young University.
Sister Craven met her husband are the parents of five children and have 18 grandchildren.
Mostly recently, Sister Craven was an ordinance worker in the Bountiful Utah Temple. She also served with her husband when he was president of the North Carolina Charlotte Mission.
Primary First Counselor: Lisa Harkness
Sister Lisa Harkness was called as the new first counselor in the Primary general presidency. Sister Harkness has been serving on the Primary general board since September 2017. The Primary organization is for children ages 18 months to 11 years.
She was born in Los Angeles, California, to Ronald and LaRae Long.
Sister Harkness has served in many positions in the Church, including stake Young Women president, Relief Society president and Gospel Doctrine teacher. She served a full-time mission in the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission, where she taught in Spanish.
Sister Harkness has a bachelor’s degree in political science and secondary teaching from Brigham Young University. She and her husband, David, have five children and two grandchildren.