Tad R. Callister was a member of the Presidency of the Seventy of the LDS Church from August 2011 to April 2014, when he was called as Sunday School general president. He holds a BS in accounting from Brigham Young University, a PhD from UCLA, and an LLM from New York University. He spent his career as a lawyer in southern California. He has previously served in the LDS Church as a bishop, stake president, regional representative, and area seventy. From 2005 to 2008 he served as president of the Church's Canada Toronto East Mission. While still serving in Canada, he was called as a General Authority and member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy in 2008. He later served first as a counselor and then as president of the Pacific Area, residing in Auckland and overseeing the operations of the LDS Church in New Zealand, Australia, and the islands of the Pacific. In 2011 he was appointed as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy. Elder Callister and his wife, Kathryn Saporiti, were married in 1968, and they are the parents of six children. He is the author of the book The Blueprint of Christ's Church​,The Infinite Atonement, andThe Inevitable Apostasy and the Promised Restoration.