SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Elder Clark G. Gilbert is the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was called on Wednesday, February 11, 2026, and ordained on Thursday, February 12, by President Dallin H. Oaks and the other members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Elder Gilbert, 55, was born in Oakland, California, and spent most of his childhood in Phoenix, Arizona. He has served as a General Authority Seventy since April 2021 and as the Commissioner of the Church Educational System since August of that year.
“This is an amazing time to point people to the Savior Jesus Christ,” Elder Gilbert said on Thursday. “When we do that, we can find joy and comfort and peace in Him. As President [Russell M.] Nelson once said, it’s much harder to find happiness where it doesn’t exist. And we’re so grateful that I have this calling now to witness that Jesus is the Christ. If people all across the world will look to Him, He will make their lives better, more meaningful, more joyful. And it happens in and through our Savior Jesus Christ.”
From his earliest days, Elder Gilbert said his parents nurtured the idea that the gospel of Jesus Christ and education are naturally intertwined.
“They never made me think that education and the gospel were decoupled in any way — the more you have faith, the more you want to learn and grow, and the more you learn and grow, the deeper your faith can become,” he said in 2021.
His faith and his education received a powerful boost during his time at Brigham Young University, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in 1994 in international relations.
His time at BYU was special because, he added, “for the first time, I felt the expanded strength of the Church, and it was directly tied to my growth academically.”
Elder Gilbert continued his studies at Stanford (a master’s degree in East Asian studies in 1995) and Harvard (a doctorate in business administration in 2001). While he then joined Harvard’s faculty, his dream was always to teach at BYU.
That opportunity came, though at a different BYU.
Harvard colleague and mentor Kim B. Clark, who had become president of BYU–Idaho, invited Elder Gilbert and his wife, Christine, to consider bringing their gifts to Rexburg, Idaho. President Clark’s invitation included a challenge to “help us rethink Church education on a global scale.”
The Gilberts left Harvard Business School in 2006 and headed to BYU–Idaho.
The new Apostle’s professional experience was rooted in mentoring students, navigating the ever-changing world of communication technology and building and leading large organizations. After three years of helping students at BYU–Idaho, he filled assignments as CEO of Deseret Digital Media (2009), president of Deseret News (2010), president of BYU–Idaho (2015), and inaugural president of the global online offering known as BYU–Pathway Worldwide (2017) — an assignment he held until his call to full-time Church service.
His service as Commissioner of the Church Educational System involved oversight of BYU, BYU–Idaho, BYU–Hawaii, Ensign College, BYU–Pathway Worldwide and Seminaries and Institutes of Religion.
An experience with inner-city Latter-day Saint youth during his time in Boston proved pivotal as he helped bring educational opportunities to broader audiences as the first president of BYU–Pathway Worldwide — an innovative and spiritually based educational initiative sponsored by the Church.
While those Boston youth were new to the Church and its teachings and expectations, he said, he learned the key to helping them grow was to focus on their potential.
“Their growth in the gospel was gradual but steady,” Elder Gilbert explained in general conference. “Today they have served missions, have graduated from college, have been married in the temple, and are leading remarkable personal and professional lives.”
While discussing the success of BYU–Pathway several years ago with a nationally prominent educator, Elder Gilbert explained that the fruits of the program are its focus on each student’s divine potential. Since its beginning in 2009, BYU–Pathway has served more than 288,000 students in more than 180 countries.
Throughout his educational leadership, Elder Gilbert has emphasized helping each learner grow in Christ. He taught that “in this Church, we believe in the divine potential of all of God’s children and in our ability to become something more in Christ.” He said that while people begin life in different circumstances, “in the Lord’s timing, it is not where we start but where we are headed that matters most,” a principle that shaped his work with students around the globe.
“One of the miracles of this, the Lord’s Church, is that each of us can become something more in Christ,” Elder Gilbert said. “I know of no other organization that gives its members more opportunities to serve, give back, repent, and become better people. Whether we start in abundant or difficult circumstances, let us keep our sights and our slopes pointed heavenward. As we do, Christ will lift us to a higher place.”
In addition to his professional and educational leadership, Elder Gilbert served in a number of Church callings, including full‑time missionary in the Japan Kobe Mission, elders quorum president, counselor in a stake presidency, bishop and Area Seventy.
He and Christine were married in the Salt Lake Temple in 1994. They are the parents of eight children.
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SOURCE The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
