Mormon church names new seventies, Primary presidency

SALT LAKE CITY — Seven general authorities, 43 area authority seventies and a new Primary General Presidency have been added to the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The new leaders were called by the First Presidency and sustained in the Saturday afternoon session of the LDS Church's general conference.

Four were called to the First Quorum of the Seventy: Elders Kevin R. Duncan, Washington, Washington County; Gerrit W. Gong, Provo; Patrick Kearon, Somerset, England; and Juan A. Uceda, Clifton, N.J.

Called to serve in the Second Quorum of the Seventy are Elders Larry R. Lawrence, Clovis, Calif.; Per G. Malm, Goteborg, Sweden; and Jairo Mazzagardi, Vinheldo, Brazil.

Members of those two quorums serve throughout the world under the direction of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, and their service sometimes includes executive responsibilities in church departments.

Members of the First Quorum of the Seventy usually serve until age 70.

Called as the new Primary General Presidency were Sister Rosemary M. Wixom, general president; and Sisters Jean A. Stevens and Cheryl A. Esplin as first counselor and second counselor, respectively.

Sister Cheryl C. Lant, the previous Primary general president, and her counselors, Sisters Margaret S. Lifferth and Vicki F. Matsumori, were released after a five-year tenure.

First Quorum of the Seventy

 Elder Duncan, 49, had been serving as an Area Authority Seventy in the Utah South Area and was previously an associate international legal counsel in South America and president of the Chile Santiago North Mission. He began his professional career as an associate attorney and later founded a corporation, from which he retired. An Ogden native, he and his wife, Nancy Elizabeth Smart Duncan, have five children.

 Elder Gong, 56, also an Area Authority Seventy serving in the Utah South Area, is a former bishop and stake president. Currently the assistant to the president for planning and assessment at Brigham Young University, he had served as special assistant in the U.S. State Department and to the U.S. ambassador in Beijing. The Redwood City, Calif., native and his wife, Susan Lindsay Gong, have four children.