Brian K. Ashton was appointed by the Board of Education of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the second president of BYU-Pathway Worldwide in 2021. He had served as the organization’s first vice president of field operations since 2018.
President Ashton holds a bachelor of arts degree from Brigham Young University and a master of business administration from the Harvard Business School. He began his career as a management consultant and has been a founder, executive, and board member at several startup companies.
From 2015 to 2019, President Ashton served as Second Counselor in the Church’s Sunday School General Presidency. He served as a missionary in the Peru Lima South Mission.
President Ashton was born in Provo, Utah, the oldest of nine children. He has lived all over the United States during his lifetime.
Brian married Melinda Earl in the St. George Utah Temple in 1996 and they are the parents of seven children. Together, she and Brian presided over the Texas Houston South Mission from 2012 to 2015.