Reid L. Neilson
Reid Larkin Neilson was the managing director of the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 2010 to 2019. On January 23, 2015, he became an Assistant Church Historian and Recorder, still retaining his duties as managing director. Early life and education. Neilson was raised in Orange County, California. After graduating from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in international relations, he worked for Arthur Andersen and The Walt Disney Company's Strategic Planning Division in Tokyo, where he had served years previously  as a Mormon missionary in Japan. He returned to BYU for master's degrees in American history and business administration, which he received in 2001 and 2002. While a graduate student at BYU, Neilson was part of a summer seminar on Mormon History with Richard Bushman, which ran over several years, and has produced many of the leading figures in the production of scholarly Mormon history in the early 21st-century. Neilson completed a PhD in American religious history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006. He also completed Harvard Business School's General Management Program . Career. From 2006 to 2009, Neilson was a professor in BYU's Church History and Doctrine Department. Neilson started working for the Church History Department in 2009. In addition to working on the creation of books and editing new document collections, Neilson works on the creation of web-resources and historical sites by the department. He is also involved in the dedication of expanded and refurbished historical sites. In January 2019, the LDS Church announced that he would begin service in July 2019 as president of the church's Washington DC North Mission. Family. Neilson is married to the former  Shelly Anderson. They are the parents of five children. Publications. Neilson has written and edited more than twenty books. Some of his frequent topics are the travels of Mormon figures, such as Andrew Jenson and David O. McKay. Many of his books have been published by major university presses.