Married for 36 years, they have shared parenting, church service and missionary work.  Brother Thompson presided over the Hamburg Germany mission from 2007-2010. He’s also served as a stake president and bishop and was a vice-president and hospital administrator with Intermountain Health Care for 31 years. He graduated from the University of Utah with a BA and MBA. Sister Thompson has a degree in English from the U. of U. and loved being home raising their four children. She taught preschool for 11 years after her children were in school and has served in every church auxiliary. She currently is a member of the Relief Society General Board.

Research on women’s values and attitudes has been a major theme in Cathy Chamberlain’s life. She is currently the managing director for market strategy for Deseret Book, and has helped develop the “Time Out for Women” conferences that are taken all over the United States. Sister Chamberlain has been a consultant for a number of major national businesses and companies in Latin America interested in her research and strategy skills. She has also been active in the political arena and been a consultant in communications to Bob Dole, Elizabeth Dole and others, and directed two landmark studies on women during President Reagan’s administration. She teaches PR and Advertising part-time as an adjunct professor at BYU, and serves on the National Advisory Board for the Marriott School of Management at BYU.

Cathy Stokes is a professional nurse who worked in nursing and health care administration, including 34 years in the Illinois Department of Public Health.  Her last assignment was work on bioterrorism preparedness and response for Illinois. Sister Stokes joined the LDS Church in 1979 on the south side of Chicago, and after almost 70 years in Chicago, she retired to Salt Lake City in 2006. Church service has been an adventure that has taken her everywhere from Preston, Idaho to Accra, Ghana. She is a member of the Deseret News Advisory Board, a member of the Utah Aids Foundation Board, and is a volunteer at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital. Sister Stokes’ life and wisdom are featured in a chapter in Mormon Women, Portraits and Conversations, and she wrote a chapter in Why I Believe, published by Deseret Book in 2002.

As the director of the Institute of Religion in Cedar City, Alan Gudmundson also has ample access to red rock country where he runs, rock climbs and enjoys canyoneering. His favorite part of Cedar City, though, is the classroom where he has the opportunity to teach the gospel. He began his CES career as a seminary teacher in Montpelier, Idaho and has also taught in Smithfield, Utah, taught Institute in Logan and at the University of Wisconsin. He was born in Los Angeles, California, and has two degrees from Utah State University. He and his wife Elizabeth have four children.

Aida Mattingley, a native of the Philippines, was the only member of her family to convert from Catholicism to the LDS faith.  She came to the United States in 1975, and for 36 years she has lived an amazing life of community service while being a professional teacher and librarian.  In her early years in Utah it was a struggle to fit in as a dark skinned person in a predominantly white community, but her philosophy has been to look at “what she can do for the community rather than what the community can do for her.”  Her tenacity to serve is perennial and contagious.  She has chaired the Utah Humanities Council, and the Governor’s Asian Council, and was president of the Salt Lake Council of Women.  Sister Mattingly has served on numerous boards and committees that foster welfare reform, diversity training and the arts. Her goal is to inspire and empower others.  She and her husband Kent, are the parents of one son.

Jason Webb is the clinical director of the STEPS Recovery Center, a drug and alcohol addiction treatment facility in Payson.  He has a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Utah, and is a licensed substance abuse counselor. Brother Webb is also a certified mediator.  He worked as the clinical director of The Ark of Little Cottonwood, a residential substance abuse facility, and as a counselor at the Utah State Prison. He was born in Whittier, California, and also spent some growing up years in the Phoenix area. His bachelor’s degree is in Family Science from BYU.  Brother Webb and his wife Melanie are the parents of five boys, and are expecting a baby girl in August.

JD Gardner is the CEO of ZenPrint, and he also runs Monarch Partners, a venture-oriented investment fund that he founded in 2005.  Through Monarch Partners, Brother Gardner has supported as an angel investor a number of rapidly growing startups such as Omniture, Ancestry.com, Skull Candy, Logoworks, Allegiance, and Stance and Fundley.  He also co-founded and seed funded successful operating businesses such as ZenPrint, Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill and Longboards Vintage Ice Cream.  Prior to Monarch, Brother Gardner worked as an investment professional and Venture Partner with Spring Capital, an early-stage regional venture fund.  He also worked in investment banking and strategy consulting with Goldman Sachs and McKinsey & Company. Brother Gardner studied Applied Math and Economics at BYU and received an MBA from Harvard Business School in June 2000. He and his wife Sarah live in Sandy, and are the parents of two children.  He has a passion for travel, action sports and his family.

For 31 years John Harding has taught seminary and Institute in New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, and now at the Institute of Religion in Logan. He grew up on a farm in Myton, Utah where he loved the animals so much that he wanted to become a veterinarian. A mission to England changed that career plan as he developed a deep love for teaching. He and his wife Lorie have five sons and a daughter and are blessed with 8 grandchildren.

Michael Purdy is the Director of Media Relations in the Church’s Public Affairs Department.  The division works on developing strategic relationships with media representatives from print, broadcast, and new media outlets, the coordination of response to media inquiries and requests for interviews, and helping to ensure an accurate and fair representation of the Church in the public eye.