President Henry B. Eyring

First Counselor in the First Presidency

Though his service as Second Counselor to President Gordon B. Hinckley lasted just less than four months, President Henry Bennion Eyring, recently sustained as First Counselor in the First Presidency, is well seasoned among General Authorities in the Church.

As the only man to date to have served in the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Quorum of the Seventy, and Presiding Bishopric, President Eyring brings broad experience to his new calling.

During his years of service, he has had ample opportunity to work closely with President Monson.

“I am humbled and honored to have been invited to serve as a counselor to President Monson,” said President Eyring at a media conference announcing the new First Presidency.

“For many years in the Presiding Bishopric and in the Quorum of the Twelve and in the wonderful experience that I’ve had in the First Presidency with President Monson, I have had the chance to come to know him, his goodness, his great capacities, his love of the people,” President Eyring said.

“I pledge my whole heart to serve with him, knowing as I do his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his power to receive revelation and to know what it is we should do.”

President Eyring was born on May 31, 1933, in Princeton, New Jersey, the second of three sons born to world-renowned chemist Henry Eyring and his wife, Mildred. After serving two years in the U.S. Air Force, he enrolled in the Harvard Graduate School of Business, where he earned advanced degrees in business administration. In July 1962, President Eyring became an assistant professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he taught from 1962 to 1971.

In 1971, President Eyring became president of Ricks College, now BYU–Idaho. He became deputy commissioner of the Church Educational System six years later and CES commissioner three years after that, serving until his call in April 1985 as First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. In September 1992 he was renamed CES commissioner, simultaneously serving in that position and as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, to which he was called a month later. He was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on April 1, 1995, and as Second Counselor in the First Presidency on October 6, 2007.