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About the Foundation

Mission Statement

Supporting The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through scholarship.

The Interpreter Foundation supports the Church in the following ways:

  • Promotion: We provide tools to encourage and facilitate personal learning by study and faith, and disseminate accurate information to the public about the Church.
  • Explanation: We make the results of relevant scholarship more accessible to non-specialists.
  • Defense: We respond to misunderstandings and criticisms of Church beliefs, policies, and practices.
  • Faithfulness: Our leadership, staff, and associates strive to follow Jesus Christ and be true to the teachings of His Church.
  • Scholarship: Our leadership, staff, and associates incorporate standards of scholarship appropriate to their academic disciplines.

The Interpreter Foundation is an independent organization that supports but is not owned, controlled by, or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The material published by the Interpreter Foundation is the sole responsibility of the respective authors and should not be interpreted as representing the views of The Interpreter Foundation or of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Board of Trustees

Daniel C. Peterson

Daniel C. Peterson

President

Daniel C. Peterson (PhD, UCLA) is a professor of Islamic studies and Arabic at Brigham Young University and founder of the university’s Middle Eastern Texts Initiative. He has published and spoken extensively on both Islamic and Mormon subjects. Formerly chairman of the board of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) and an officer, editor, and author for its successor organization, the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, his professional work as an Arabist focuses on the Qur’an and on Islamic philosophical theology. He is the author, among other things, of a biography entitled Muhammad: Prophet of God (Eerdmans, 2007).
Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

Vice President of Special Projects

Jeffrey M. Bradshaw (PhD, Cognitive Science, University of Washington) is a Senior Research Scientist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Pensacola, Florida (www.ihmc.us/groups/jbradshaw; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_M._Bradshaw). His professional writings have explored a wide range of topics in human and machine intelligence (www.jeffreymbradshaw.net). Jeff has been the recipient of several awards and patents and has been an adviser for initiatives in science, defense, space, industry, and academia worldwide. Jeff has written detailed commentaries on the Book of Moses and Genesis 1–11 and on temple themes in the scriptures. For Church-related publications, see www.TempleThemes.net. Jeff was a missionary in France and Belgium from 1975–1977, and his family has returned twice to live in France. He and his wife, Kathleen, are the parents of four children and fourteen grandchildren. From July 2016-September 2019, Jeff and Kathleen served missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo Kinshasa Mission office and the DR Congo Kinshasa Temple. They currently live in Nampa, Idaho.
Steven T. Densley, Jr.

Steven T. Densley, Jr.

Executive Vice President

Steve Densley, Jr. is a Utah attorney (J.D., Brigham Young University). He graduated with University Honors from BYU with a combined B.A./M.A. in public policy and political science. As an undergraduate, he was an assistant editor on the Pi Sigma Alpha Review. In law school, he was a member of the Law Review and the National Moot Court team. He has published articles in the Utah Bar Journal, the Journal of Law and Family Studies, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, and Meridian Magazine. He has been recognized in SuperLawyers Magazine as one of the Mountain States Rising Stars and has been listed numerous times in Utah Business Magazine as among the Utah Legal Elite. He was the Executive Vice President of FAIR from 2013-15 and, recipient of the John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award, and was a producer of FAIR’s podcast when it twice won the People’s Choice Award for Best Podcast in the Religion & Spirituality category. He is also an award-winning photographer and a certified travel agent. He served a Hmong-speaking mission in the California Sacramento Mission. He and his wife Heather are the parents of four children and have one granddaughter.
Kristine Wardle Frederickson

Kristine Wardle Frederickson

Vice President

Kristine Wardle Frederickson (PhD, History, University of Utah) has taught over 25 university courses in the History, Women’s Studies, Honors, and Religion departments at Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University. She was an op-ed writer for ten years for The Deseret News and Mormon Times. She is the author of Extraordinary Courage: Women Empowered by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She has published on a wide range of historical and religious topics in books, periodicals, and presented at numerous conferences. Her areas of expertise include Modern European History (emphasis on nineteenth-century Britain), American History, Women’s History, and Religious History. She and her husband Reid are the parents of six children and eleven grandchildren.
Jeffrey Dean Lindsay

Jeffrey Dean Lindsay

Vice President

Jeffrey Dean Lindsay recently returned to the United States after almost 9 years in Shanghai, China. Jeff has been providing online materials defending the LDS faith for over twenty years, primarily at JeffLindsay.com and http://mormanity.blogspot.com.

Jeff has a PhD in chemical engineering from BYU and is a US patent agent. He is currently Senior Advisor for ipCapital Group, assisting clients in creating intellectual property and innovation. He was recently the Head of R&D and IP for a US consumer product company, Lume Deodorant, and from 2011 to 2019 was the Head of Intellectual Property for Asia Pulp and Paper in Shanghai, China, one of the world’s largest forest product companies. Since 2015, Jeff has been recognized as a leading IP strategist by Intellectual Asset Magazine based on peer input. He is also lead author of Conquering Innovation Fatigue (John Wiley & Sons, 2009). Jeff served a mission in the German speaking Switzerland Zurich Mission. He and his wife Kendra are the parents of four boys and have eleven grandchildren.

Shirley Smith Ricks

Shirley Smith Ricks

Vice President

Shirley Smith Ricks (PhD, family studies, BYU) has worked since 1989 as an editor at the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, and now the Religious Studies Center at BYU. She has helped produce numerous books and periodicals, including several volumes of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley. Shirley has published a number of articles and reviews. She and her husband, Stephen D. Ricks, have attended all the temples in the United States and Canada and enjoy traveling, especially to visit their six children and spouses and their twenty grandchildren.
Allen Wyatt

Allen Wyatt

Vice President of Operations

Allen Wyatt, an internationally recognized expert in small computer systems, has written more than 60 books explaining different facets of working with computers. He is the president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company.

Before serving with the Interpreter Foundation, Allen served as vice president of FAIR and founding president of the More Good Foundation. He has written articles for the FARMS Review and various online venues, including Meridian Magazine.

Management

Jeffrey D. Lindsay

Jeffrey D. Lindsay

Co-Editor

Tanya Spackman

Tanya Spackman

Manager of Editorial Services

Allen Wyatt

Allen Wyatt

Managing Editor

Board of Advisors

Kevin Christensen

Kevin Christensen

Brant A. Gardner

Brant A. Gardner

Louis C. Midgley

Louis C. Midgley

George L. Mitton

George L. Mitton

Gregory L. Smith

Gregory L. Smith

Ed Snow

Ed Snow

Ted Vaggalis

Ted Vaggalis

Board of Editors
Matthew L. Bowen

Matthew L. Bowen

David M. Calabro

David M. Calabro

Craig L. Foster

Craig L. Foster

Taylor Halverson

Taylor Halverson

Benjamin L. McGuire

Benjamin L. McGuire

Tyler R. Moulton

Tyler R. Moulton

Martin S. Tanner

Martin S. Tanner

Bryan J. Thomas

Bryan J. Thomas

John S. Thompson

John S. Thompson

A. Keith Thompson

A. Keith Thompson

Contributing Editors
Robert S. Boylan

Robert S. Boylan

Benjamin I. Huff

Benjamin I. Huff

Jennifer C. Lane

Jennifer C. Lane

David J. Larsen

David J. Larsen

Ugo A. Perego

Ugo A. Perego

Stephen D. Ricks

Stephen D. Ricks

Lynne Hilton Wilson

Lynne Hilton Wilson

Mark Alan Wright

Mark Alan Wright

Donor Relations

Jann E. Campbell

Legal Advisors

Preston Regehr
Scott Williams

Interpreter Advisory Committee

Larry Ainsworth
Rob Haertel

Interpreter Radio

Matthew Bowen
Kevin Christensen
Steve Densley
Craig Foster
Kris Frederiksen
John Gee
Terry Hutchinson
Mark Johnson
Mike Parker
Dan Peterson
Jasmine Gimenez Rappleye
Neal Rappleye
Stephen Smoot
Hales Swift
Martin Tanner
Bruce Webster

Production Editors and Designers

Timothy Guymon
Jacob Harmon
Alan Sikes

Editorial Consultants

Eden Buchert
Daniel Evensen
Jolie Griffin
Deidre Marlow
Don Norton
Kaitlin Cooper Swift
Elizabeth Wyatt

Media and Technology

Jacob Ames
Richard Flygare
Mark Johnson
Jacob Harmon
Steve Metcalf
Tyler R. Moulton
Tom Pittman
Russell D. Richins
Alan Sikes
S. Hales Swift
Victor Worth

Donate to the cause

The Interpreter Foundation is a nonprofit organization. All journal publications and video presentations are available for free by digital download and streaming. The price of hard copy versions of journal articles covers only the cost of printing; books are typically priced to help cover both upfront pre-publication expenses and royalties to authors when applicable. In some cases, the Foundation may subsidize publication costs to keep retail prices affordable. The Foundation does not profit from sales of its publications.

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