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Michael R. Otterson
Managing Director, LDS Church Public Affairs

Michael R. Otterson serves as the Managing Director of the Public Affairs Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with responsibility for public affairs issues of the Church worldwide. He was born and educated in England, where he completed his formal journalistic training. For 11 years, he worked as a journalist on newspapers in Britain, Austrailia, and Japan with emphasis on politics, business and crime, and as a sub-editor dealing mostly with national and international news. In 1976, he accepted an invitation from church headquarters to manage the first public affairs office for the church outside the United States, based in London. In 1979, he was invited to move to Australia to open and manage the Pacific Area office based in Sydney. He remained there until 1991, when he was asked to move to church headquarters as Director of Area Relations. In August 1997, he became the Director of Media Relations, and in August 2008 he was appointed Managing Director. Brother Otterson has served twice as a stake president and has been a counselor to three mission presidents. He and his wife, Catherine, are now American citizens and are the parents of 8 children and 22 grandchildren.