~/projects/church-leadership
The Leadership of the LDS Church
Who leads The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Every General Authority who has served since 1980 (the First Presidency, the Twelve, the Seventy and the Presiding Bishopric), with their callings, origins and education, alongside a study of the men called to lead its missions.
Studies
Focused studies of one slice of Church leadership, each with its own data, methods and interactive visuals.
Who Leads a Mission
A historical database and statistical study of the 504 mission presidents serving today and 4,250 recovered profiles since 1988: where they come from, the paths they took, and how the system has changed.
Where General Authorities studied
Every degree verified against official biographies and Church News, then tiered from M7, T14 and Ivy-level schools through BYU, Utah and international universities.
Every General Authority since 1980
Search and filter by body, status, birthplace, degree and school. Open any leader for their callings, education and sources.
Where General Authorities studied
Highest degree and graduate school tier by the era in which each leader was first called.
Highest degree, by era first called
Graduate school tier, by degree
| Tier | MBA | Law | PhD+ | Med | MA/MS | All |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elite | 19 | 10 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 52 |
| Strong | 4 | 8 | 5 | · | 1 | 18 |
| BYU | 17 | 17 | 6 | · | 8 | 48 |
| Utah / USU | 3 | 24 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 44 |
| Other US | 14 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 7 | 56 |
| International | 16 | 6 | · | 2 | 9 | 33 |
| Unknown | 1 | · | · | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Total | 74 | 76 | 44 | 27 | 33 | 254 |
Graduate school tier, by era first called
| Era | Elite | Strong | BYU | Utah / USU | Other US | International | Unknown | Elite share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1981 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 6 | · | · | 9% |
| 1981–1999 | 22 | 9 | 9 | 16 | 24 | 2 | 1 | 27% |
| 2000–2014 | 12 | 2 | 16 | 17 | 15 | 11 | 1 | 16% |
| 2015–2026 | 16 | 4 | 20 | 3 | 11 | 20 | 1 | 21% |
The share of General Authorities holding a graduate degree rose from 42% of those first called before 1981 to 71% of those called in 2015–2026. Elite schools have supplied a fairly steady fifth of graduate degrees (9% before 1981, 27% in 1981–1999, 16% in 2000–2014, 21% in 2015–2026), while BYU and international universities account for most of the growth.
Sources & method
The roster combines the official General Authority biographies on churchofjesuschrist.org (callings, dates, birthplaces and portraits), Ensign and Liahona call announcements, Church News profiles and obituaries, and Wikipedia and Wikidata for leaders whose official pages are no longer published. Education was researched person by person. Each record carries its source and a confidence rating, and borderline cases (diplomas, unfinished degrees, honorary doctorates) are noted rather than counted. Area Seventies and general officers of the auxiliaries are not included.
School tiers: Elite means M7 business schools, T14 law schools, and Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, Duke, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Oxford and LSE. Strong means UCLA, USC, NYU and George Washington.