Assistants to the Twelve, Presiding Bishopric Announced

Two new Assistants to the Council of the Twelve were sustained and the Presiding Bishopric was reorganized during the opening session of the 142nd Annual General Conference of the Church on April 6.

Elder John H. Vandenberg, former Presiding Bishop, and Elder Robert L. Simpson, former first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, are the new Assistants to the Twelve.

Elder John H. Vandenberg

Bishop Victor L. Brown, former second counselor to Bishop Vandenberg, is the new Presiding Bishop of the Church. His counselors are H. Burke Peterson of Phoenix, Arizona, and Vaughn J. Featherstone of Boise, Idaho.

Bishop Victor L. Brown

In his new assignment, Elder Vandenberg will become managing director of the new Church Department of Physical Facilities, which will coordinate the Church’s building, building operations and maintenance, and real estate departments. He has also been named president of the Cooperative Security Corporation, the welfare program’s legal entity.

Elder Simpson will become the new managing director of the Church Social Services, succeeding Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Council of the Twelve. Elder Ashton will be an adviser to this department, replacing Elder Marion J. Romney of the Council of the Twelve.

Elder Robert L. Simpson

Elder Vandenberg served as Presiding Bishop for more than eleven years, having been called to that position in September 1961. Previously he was vice-president of the Church Building Committee, in charge of finances, and had served in the presidencies of the Denver and Ensign stakes.

Before his call to the Presiding Bishopric, Elder Simpson was an accounting executive in California. He served as president of the New Zealand Mission from 1958 to 1961.

Bishop Brown becomes the tenth Presiding Bishop of the Church since its organization in 1830. A former airline executive, he has also served as a ward bishop and as a member of the Denver Stake presidency.

Bishop Peterson, the new first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, has been serving as a Regional Representative of the Twelve since 1970. Prior to that assignment, he was president of the Phoenix North Stake. A civil engineer, he is a partner in an engineering corporation.

Bishop H. Burke Peterson

Bishop Featherstone, training manager for a supermarket chain, was called to serve as president of Boise (Idaho) North Stake in 1970. His previous Church experience also includes service on the Church Priesthood Missionary Committee and the YMMIA general board.

Bishop Vaughn J. Featherstone

The July issue of the Ensign will feature articles and color photographs of each of these new General Authorities as well as all addresses delivered at the April conference.