Deseret News introduces Editorial Advisory Board

Sheri L. Dew is president and CEO of Deseret Book — the first woman to hold that position. She wrote the biographies of two LDS Church presidents, Gordon B. Hinckley and Ezra Taft Benson, and was second counselor in the LDS Relief Society from 1997 to 2002. In 2003, the White House appointed her as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations.

Robert P. George

Robert P. George, professor of jurisprudence and politics at Princeton University, is a Roman Catholic who has been called America's "most influential Christian conservative intellectual" by New York Times Magazine. He is director of Princeton's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and was a member of the President's Council on Bioethics. He is also chairman of the board of the National Organization for Marriage, a nonprofit organization that opposes the legalization of same-sex marriages.

Matthew S. Holland

Matthew S. Holland, president of Utah Valley University in Orem since 2009, is a former associate professor of political science at BYU. He earned master's and doctoral degrees from Duke University. He was a fellow in the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University in 2005-06 and the Raoul Wallenberg Scholar at Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1991. He has taught such courses as American Heritage, Modern Political Philosophy and Public Ethics.

Firoz "King" Husein

Firoz "King" Husein is chairman and CEO of Span Construction and Engineering Inc., in Madera, Calif. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Bombay in India and a master's degree in civil engineering from BYU. Span Construction has built large structures from big box stores to automotive and athletic facilities. A convert to the LDS Church in 1977, he is currently bishop of the Monterey (Calif.) Ward.

Jane Clayson Johnson

Jane Clayson Johnson was hired after graduating from BYU as a full-time reporter at KSL-TV, where she won a regional Emmy and the Edward R. Murrow Award. In 1996, she moved to Los Angeles to work for ABC, and she covered Bob Dole's presidential campaign and the O.J. Simpson trial. From 1999 to 2002, she anchored CBS' "The Early Show." She decided to leave her broadcast career to focus on raising her family, which she discussed in her book "I Am a Mother."

Jeffrey Max Jones

Jeffrey Max Jones, a native of Chihuahua, Mexico, is a graduate of BYU and has been the highest-ranking LDS member in the Mexican government. He served in the Chamber of Deputies 1997-2000 and then was elected a national senator to represent Chihuahua from 2000 to 2006. He then was undersecretary of Agribusiness Development until 2009, focusing on prospective planning, domestic and international market development and agricultural finance. He is now pursuing writing and consulting.

Mary McConnell

Mary McConnell, curriculum consultant to Juan Diego Catholic High School in Draper, graduated from Michigan State University in 1977 and attended Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship. She was chief speechwriter for Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and director of public issues for FMC Corp. in Chicago. While taking time out to spend more time with her children, she became active in the Salt Lake City Christian home schooling organization, then made a career shift into teaching.

Michael W. McConnell

Michael W. McConnell is a professor at Stanford Law School and faculty director of the Stanford Constitutional Law Center. Before joining Stanford in 2009, he was a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver. He also was a law professor at the University of Utah and University of Chicago, where he specialized in constitutional law. He has written on many constitutional aspects but is best known for his work on freedom of religion.

Gordon H. Smith