Church Member Nominated Ambassador to Finland

Mark Evans Austad, an active Church member in the Washington, D.C., area, has been nominated by United States President Gerald R. Ford to be United States ambassador to Finland.

Brother Austad, a broadcast executive with Metromedia, Inc., has had a long career of Church service along with achievements in broadcasting. A native of Ogden, Utah, he began broadcasting for KSL in Salt Lake City and worked for CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) in Washington. He filled a mission to Finland and was named Scouter of the Year by the Boy Scouts of America in 1970.

Brother Austad’s appointment to Finland is the latest in a series of Church members who have served as ambassadors, including Rafael Castillo, current United Nations ambassador from Guatemala; David Kennedy, secretary of the treasury during President Richard M. Nixon’s first term and former ambassador at large; David S. King, ambassador to Malagasy from 1967 to 1969; President J. Reuben Clark, a counselor to three presidents of the Church, who was ambassador to Mexico; and Cavendish Ward Cannon, who was ambassador to Greece, Turkey, Morocco, and Yugoslavia.

Brother Austad is married to the former Lola Brown and they have three married daughters.

Mark Evans Austad. (Deseret News photograph.)