Administrative Vice President Brad W. Farnsworth has announced the appointment of Ole M. Smith as the assistant administrative vice president for physical facilities at Brigham Young University.
Smith replaces Edwin Cozzens, who has retired.
"Ole is ready to build on a good foundation that Ed Cozzens and his predecessors have established in physical facilities," said Farnsworth. "He inherits a very capable staff who will help him address the opportunities offered by our campus."
A BYU alumnus, Smith completed his bachelor's and master of business administration degrees from California Coast University.
In 1983, Smith left his own construction company to begin an association with the Physical Facilities Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He and his family completed assignments in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Ecuador.
In 1998, when President Gordon B. Hinckley began a program to complete 100 temples throughout the world, Smith was appointed as one of three project administrators and oversaw the completion of 21 new temples in Latin America as well as the Boston, Albuquerque, Halifax, Montreal and Palmyra temples.
Smith also served as a mission president for the Church of Jesus Christ in Chile from 2001 to 2004, where he worked closely with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church.
He has most recently worked as a consultant with Church Physical Facilities, where he was the trainer and first contact for physical facilities functions for all of Spanish-speaking South America. He has helped facilitate work for temples, meetinghouses and Church Educational System facilities as well as missionary, welfare, employment and family history departments there.
Writer: Cecelia Fielding
