Get to Know Elder Clark G. Gilbert, the Apostle
This post may contain affiliate links which means we may be paid for products you purchase through our links. See our full disclosure for more.
Hooray! We have a brand new apostle of the Lord, Elder Clark G. Gilbert. Did you know he was only 55 at the time of his setting apart on February 12, 2026? (Elder David A. Bednar was 52- these are “young” apostles). Elder Gilbert has served as a General Authority Seventy since April 2021 and was the Commissioner of the Church Educational System since August 2021. We are so excited to learn from this new man of faith and his wife, Christine. Have you seen how sweetly she looks at her husband and holds his hand? Let’s learn more about them and get a free printable to share the good news with others.
Save it for later, pin it now
Discover Fun Facts about Elder Gilbert
Elder Gilbert was born in Oakland, California (June 18, 1970) while his father attended UC Berkley School of Law. Elder Gilbert spent most of his childhood in Phoenix, Arizona. His parents taught him that the gospel and education are intertwined.
As a child he wanted to be a professional basketball player or a rock star.
The G stands for Gordon.
He served as a full-time missionary in the Japan Kobe Mission.
He graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in international relations.
He married Christine Calder in the Salt Lake Temple in 1994. Christine was his sister’s roommate at BYU. They have eight children.
He also has a master’s degree in East Asian studies from Stanford and a doctorate in business administration from Harvard.
He later joined the faculty at Harvard as a professor of entrepreneurial management.
He is known as an expert on disruptive innovation which works well with the work he did with BYU-Pathway Worldwide.
Elder Gilbert became the academic vice president of BYU-Idaho in 2006 where he worked for three years. He later returned to serve as BYU-Idaho’s president from 2015 to 2017.
He also worked as CEO of Deseret Digital Media and president of Deseret News.
He was the inaugural president of BYU-Pathway Worldwide in 2017 which he did until his call to full-time Church service in 2021.
As Commissioner of the Church Educational System he oversaw BYU, BYU-Idaho, BYU-Hawaii, Ensign College, BYU-Pathway Worldwide, and Seminaries and Institutes of Religion.
Learn Even More
Read more about Elder Gilbert in this article from the Church’s Newsroom announcing his new calling.
You may remember Elder Gilbert’s General Conference talk from October 2021, “Becoming More in Christ: The Parable of the Slope.”
Here’s another biography from BYU.
Or use the quick overview on the Church’s website once it’s up.
Here’s a little bit more about Elder Gilbert when he became the president of BYU-Pathway Worldwide.
