A new Primary general presidency was sustained by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday, April 4, during the Saturday afternoon session of the April 2026 general conference.
The new Primary leaders will begin their service on Aug. 1.
President Rosemary K. Chibota has been called as Primary general president with Sister Nina M. Garfield, first counselor, and Sister Theresa A. Collins, second counselor.
President Chibota, 58, lives in South Jordan, Utah; Sister Garfield, 68, lives in Orem, Utah; and Sister Collins, 64, lives in Draper, Utah.
Released were the three members of the outgoing Primary general presidency — President Susan H. Porter and her counselors, Sister Amy A. Wright and Sister Tracy Y. Browning. They will complete their service on Aug. 1.
President Porter and Sister Wright were initially sustained in April 2021 as counselors in the Primary general presidency when President Camille N. Johnson was sustained as Primary general president. In April 2022, President Johnson was sustained as Relief Society general president, and President Porter was sustained as Primary general president with Sister Wright and Sister Browning as counselors.
Following is a brief look at the new leaders. A more in-depth profile on each will appear in coming weeks.
Rosemary K. Chibota, president
Ever since President Rosemary Khwimani Chibota and her husband, Brother Joel B. Chibota, finished their assignment as Alabama Birmingham Mission leaders, she felt something else was coming.
“Our callings are gifts from the Lord. We think of it as a sacrifice, but it is really a gift that we are given.”
President Chibota was born on Oct. 16, 1967, in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, to Malawian parents — Wellington Daniel Gondwe and Rosebelle Nyakabango Mwakasungula Gondwe — and raised in Zimbabwe. This calling marks the first time an African will lead an organization general presidency of the Church. She has received many messages of love and support from people of different cultures and backgrounds.
“I am so excited to serve God’s finest, the little children. I look up to them a lot because the Lord said except we repent and become like little children, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” (See Matthew 18:3.)
The Chibotas have one daughter and moved to Utah 22 years ago. President Chibota works as a human resources generalist for the Church and served as a senior executive assistant in the office of the Seventy.
She has a master’s degree from Western Governors University and a bachelor’s degree from Colorado Technical University.
At the time of her call, President Chibota was a Sunday School teacher and stake mission preparation instructor. She is a former district and branch Young Women president; ward Relief Society and Primary presidency counselor; ward activities chair; and Relief Society, Primary and seminary teacher.”
— Mary Richards
Nina M. Garfield, 1st counselor
Sister Nina Marie Garfield joined the Church as a senior in high school in Boulder, Colorado. She said friends and their families “loved her into the Church.”
“They loved me into the gospel,” she said. “It was people who loved me and made me feel a part of this wonderful ward family.”
Sister Garfield said she has received “the best of blessings” as a result of joining the Church, including “the best of husbands, great kids and opportunities to serve.”
Sister Garfield and her husband, David R. Garfield, were married on July 30, 1980, in the Ogden Utah Temple. She worked as a homemaker, and they raised five children in Colorado and Minnesota.
Sister Garfield’s husband died in 2019 of cancer while serving as San Francisco California Stake president.
“We shared a wonderful life together in marriage, our family and the Church,” Sister Garfield said.
On Sundays, Sister Garfield likes to watch families worship together.
“I love that we bring our families to church and teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ,” she said. “I’m so thankful for people who have made so many sacrifices to make sure that His gospel moves forward.”
Sister Garfield was born in Tokyo, Japan, on March 21, 1958, to Robert Sparks and Kiyoko Saito. While she was an infant, her family relocated to the United States, and she was raised in Boulder, Colorado. She has served as a stake Relief Society president and counselor, ward Young Women president and counselor, ward and stake Primary presidency counselor, and ward Primary president.
— Aimee Cobabe
Theresa A. Collins, 2nd counselor
There’s nothing that Sister Theresa Ann Collins wants more than for her children and grandchildren to understand that they are children of a Heavenly Father who loves them.
Now, as she prepares to serve in the Primary general presidency, she wants the same for all children.
“Their Savior sees them,” Sister Collins said. “He knows everything that they’re feeling and thinking, and is always a safe place to turn. He was certainly that refuge for me.”
Parents and leaders, she continued, have a “wonderful” mantle of responsibility to teach children who they really are.
“As we help them become acquainted with their Savior, He will be a lifelong companion and guide,” she said.
Sister Collins was born Aug. 18, 1961, in Long Beach, California, to Antoinette Erickson and Charles Ernest Knowles. She is the oldest of four children and was raised in Texas, North Carolina and Salt Lake City.
She studied special education at Utah State University, where she met Richard E. Collins. The couple was married March 18, 1982, in the Logan Utah Temple. They are the parents of four children and have 16 grandchildren.
At the time of her call, Sister Collins was serving as a Nursery leader, temple ordinance worker and, with her husband, stake mission preparation instructor. Her previous callings include stake Young Women presidency counselor, ward Relief Society president, ward Young Women president and Primary teacher. She and Brother Collins served as mission leaders of the Arkansas Bentonville Mission from 2021 to 2024.
— Kaitlyn Bancroft
