The First Presidency announced May 1 that Elder Juan A. Uceda and Elder Patrick Kearon will serve in the Church’s Presidency of the Seventy, effective Aug. 1. The leaders succeed Elder Donald L. Hallstrom and Elder Richard J. Maynes in the Presidency of the Seventy, who will begin new assignments on Aug. 1.
Elder Uceda was sustained as a General Authority Seventy on April 3, 2010. From 2010 to 2013 he served as a counselor in the South America Northwest Area Presidency and from 2013 to 2016 he served as the president of the South America Northwest Area. He is currently serving as an assistant executive director in the Missionary Department and an area assistant in the North America Southeast Area.
Elder Uceda was educated in Peru. He enrolled at Jose Carlos Mariategui Institute in Lima, where he studied accounting and public relations. He also studied business administration at the Centro Andino de G.E. Institute. He is a graduate of San Luis Gonzaga University, where he was awarded a bachelor’s degree in public relations.
Elder Uceda worked in the Church Educational System as area director for Peru and Bolivia. He left Peru in 2003 to move to New Jersey to assist his father with their family business. Since joining the Church in 1972, Elder Uceda has served in numerous callings, including full-time missionary in the Lima Peru Mission, stake Sunday School presidency, bishop, high councilor, counselor in a stake presidency, stake president, president of the Lima Peru North Mission (1992–1995), and Area Seventy. He married Maria Isabel Bendezu in March 1979. They are the parents of five children.
Elder Kearon was sustained as a General Authority Seventy on April 3, 2010.
He is currently serving as president of the Europe Area. Elder Kearon was educated in the Middle East and the United Kingdom.
He has lived and worked in the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and the United States in various industries, including health care, food, transport and automotive, and ran his own communications consultancy. His civic and community involvement has included service on the boards of charities, a school, an enterprise agency and a college.
After joining the Church on Christmas Eve of 1987, Elder Kearon served in numerous Church callings, including assistant ward clerk, ward Young Men president, counselor in a bishopric, branch president, stake president, and Area Seventy.
He married Jennifer Carole Hulme in January 1991. They are the parents of four children.
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