Ronald Anderson Rasband (born February 6, 1951) is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church). He has been a general authority of the church since 2000. Currently, he is the tenth most senior apostle in the church.

Early life

Rasband was born in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, to Rulon Hawkins Rasband and Verda Anderson. He graduated from

Olympus High School Olympus High School is a public high school in the Granite School District in Holladay, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Description The school opened on September 1, 1953, with an original enrollment of 1028 students. In the fall of 1960, th ...

and later served a mission for the LDS Church in the Eastern States Mission. The mission was headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and encompassed the whole New York Metro area, while also stretching into western

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. He spent much of his mission assigned to areas of the city mainly consisting of co-op apartments. Rasband studied at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

. After Rasband returned from his mission, he married Melanie Twitchell in 1973 and they are the parents of five children."Elder Ronald A. Rasband"
'' Liahona'', November 2015.

Business career

In 1976, Rasband joined the Huntsman Container Corporation as a sales representative based in Ohio. This company would later be sold to Keyes Fibre Company. As of 1982, Rasband was living in

Ridgefield, Connecticut Ridgefield is an affluent New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains and on the New York state border, Ridgefield had a population o ...

. He was recruited to join the new Huntsman Chemical Corporation by Jon Huntsman Sr. In 1987, Rasband was appointed president and chief operating officer of Huntsman Chemical. Rasband was later a member of the corporation's board of directors.

LDS Church leadership

Rasband served as a member of the high council in the University of Utah 1st Stake from 1987 to 1989."Elder Ronald A. Rasband biography"
''

Church News The ''Church News'' (formerly ''LDS Church News'') is a multi-platform supplement and subdivision of the ''Deseret News'', a Salt Lake City, Utah newspaper owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (informally, the LDS Church). ...

'', April 29, 2000. He was

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the University of Utah 10th

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from 1989 to 1993. From 1993 to 1997 he was a member of the church's Pioneer Sesquicentennial Committee. In 1996, Rasband was called to return to the area where he had been a missionary, to serve as

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of New York New York North Mission. The mission's geographic area not only included

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, but also stretched upriver to the area of

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

, as well as the far western portion of

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. One of his initiatives was to have missionaries serve as volunteers at

Ellis Island Ellis Island is an island in New York Harbor, within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. Owned by the U.S. government, Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United State ...

and the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...

, in order to make the missionaries more visible.

General authority

Rasband was called as a general authority and member of the First Quorum of the Seventy in April 2000. As a general authority, Rasband has served in several area presidencies, including as a counselor in the presidency of the Europe Central

Area Area is the measure of a region's size on a surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-di ...

. While serving in this position he dedicated the first chapel the church built in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. He was later president of the Utah Salt Lake City

and executive director of the church's Temple Department. In 2005, Rasband was called as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, with responsibility for the church's North America Northwest and North America West areas. In August 2007, he was assigned to the Utah North, Utah South, and Utah Salt Lake City areas. In April 2009, Rasband became the senior and presiding member of the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

when Neil L. Andersen was called to the Quorum of the Twelve. He served in this role until October 2015.

Quorum of the Twelve

In October 2015, Rasband was sustained as an

apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...

and member of the Quorum of the Twelve. As an apostle, he is accepted by the church as a

prophet, seer and revelator In the Latter Day Saint movement, the president of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It was the office held by Joseph Smith, founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed succe ...

. He was sustained to the Quorum of the Twelve along with Gary E. Stevenson and Dale G. Renlund, filling vacancies created by the 2015 deaths of L. Tom Perry, Boyd K. Packer and Richard G. Scott. This was the first time since 1906 that three new apostles were sustained at once. They are the 98th, 99th and 100th members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the church's history. In August 2018, Rasband threw the ceremonial first pitch for the annual LDS Night of the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, ...

Community service

Rasband has served as a member of the National Advisory Board for

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

's Marriott School of Management. He has also been a member of the Board of Citizens for Positive Community Values, a Salt Lake City-based organization, and of the University of Utah's International Advisory Board. On January 17, 2018, when Utah Governor

Gary Herbert Gary Richard Herbert (born May 7, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 17th governor of Utah from 2009 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he chaired the National Governors Association during the 2015–2016 cycle. Herbert w ...

announced establishment of a

task force A task force (TF) is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology. Many ...

to address teen

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

, Rasband participated in the announcement and will serve as a member of the task force.

References

External links

General Authorities and General Officers: Elder Ronald A. Rasband
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rasband, Ronald A. 1951 births 20th-century Mormon missionaries American Mormon missionaries in the United States American chief operating officers American general authorities (LDS Church) Apostles (LDS Church) Latter Day Saints from Connecticut Latter Day Saints from New York (state) Latter Day Saints from Ohio Latter Day Saints from Utah Living people Members of the First Quorum of the Seventy (LDS Church) Mission presidents (LDS Church) Presidents of the Seventy (LDS Church)