Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is scheduled to be the presiding authority and speaker during Brigham Young University's Commencement exercises on Thursday, August 11, at 4 p.m., in the Marriott Center. BYU President Kevin J Worthen will conduct the exercises.
Elder Christensen currently has supervisory responsibilities in the Utah North, Salt Lake City and Utah South Areas. He also assists Elder Quentin L. Cook in supervising the Central America Area and Elder Ronald A. Rasband in supervising the South America South Area.
Elder Christensen graduated from BYU with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He went on to earn a master of business administration from the University of Washington. He has been a visiting instructor of business and religion courses at several universities, including BYU.
Students from all 10 colleges will be receiving bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees at the ceremonies. Exact numbers will be released in August.
Commencement exercises will be broadcast live on BYUtv, BYU Radio, Classical 89 KBYU-FM and byutv.org.
The full graduation schedule, along with more details about Commencement and College Convocations, can be found at graduation.byu.edu.
About the Speaker
Elder Craig C. Christensen was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 5, 2002. At the time of his call he was serving as a member of the Fifth Quorum of the Seventy in the Utah South Area.
Elder Christensen was named a member of the Presidency of the Seventy on August 1, 2012. He currently has supervisory responsibilities in the Utah North, Salt Lake City and Utah South Areas. He also assists Elder Quentin L. Cook in supervising the Central America Area and Elder Ronald A. Rasband in supervising the South America South Area.
As a General Authority, Elder Christensen served as president of the Mexico South Area from 2003 to 2007 while living in Mexico City. He has also served in various departments and assignments at Church headquarters, such as Executive Director of the Priesthood and Family Department. Other Church callings include full-time missionary in Chile Santiago South Mission, president of the Mexico City East Mission, counselor in a branch presidency at the Provo Missionary Training Center, bishop, high councilor, and elders quorum president.
Elder Christensen graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He went on to earn a master of business administration from the University of Washington. Over the years, he has been a visiting instructor of business and religion courses at several universities, including BYU.
At the time of his call as a General Authority, Elder Christensen was a self-employed businessman in the retail automotive, insurance and real estate development industries. He previously worked as an executive with several privately owned companies and with an international accounting and consulting firm based in San Francisco. He has served on several business and volunteer boards and with various charitable organizations.
Elder Christensen was born in Salt Lake City. He and his wife, Debbie, are the parents of four children.
