Gary E. Stevenson
Gary Evan Stevenson was named to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 3, 2015. At the time of his call, he has been serving as the Presiding Bishop of the Church, having been called on March 31, 2012.
At the time of his call to the Presiding Bishopric, Stevenson had been serving as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy since 2008 and was the president of the Asia North Area. As a young man he served a full-time Mormon mission to the Japan Fukuoka Mission and has also served the LDS Church as a high councilor, bishop, stake president’s counselor, president of the Japan Nagoya Mission, and ward Sunday school teacher.
He attended the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. He co-founded ICON Health & Fitness, Inc., where he served as president and chief operating officer until 2008. He served on the board of the Marriott School of management National Advisory Council, the Utah State University Foundation Board and the Executive Board of the Trapper Trails Council — Boy Scouts of America.
Elder Stevenson was born on August 5, 1955, in Ogden, Utah, and raised in Cache Valley, Utah. He married Lesa Jean Higley in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple. They are the parents of four sons.
They were in Japan when the Tsunami hit. In a Church News article dated May 5, 2012, Bishop Stevenson expressed his admiration for the way the Church assisted the victims.
- "We witnessed the gospel of Jesus Christ in action," said Bishop Stevenson. "We saw the way the Lord provides for those who have been adversely affected by natural disasters. ... And we felt the compassion of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve and the Presiding Bishopric for both the members of the Church and for those who were not members of the Church in a very generous humanitarian offering."
