L. Todd Budge

In November 2025, L. Todd Budge was sustained as the First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before this calling, he served as the First Counselor in the Asia North Area Presidency, a General Authority Seventy, and the Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. 

Bishop Budge is a BYU alumnus, and he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1984. During his freshman year at BYU in 1981, Bishop Budge married Lori Capener Budge. They were sealed in the Logan Utah Temple and would become the parents of six children. After graduation, he worked for a number of big-name companies in Japan and the US like Bain & Company, Citibank N.A., and GE Capital. In 2003 he became president and chief executive officer of Tokyo Star Bank Limited—the first foreigner to become president of a Japanese bank. From 2008 until 2011, when he retired, he served as chairman of the board. During this time, he also served as a member of the board of directors for Hawaiian Airlines. 

Though Bishop Budge worked in Japan, his first tie to the country came from his service in the Japan Fukuoka Mission as a missionary. He later got the opportunity to return as a missionary once more, though this time he would be going with his eternal companion and be presiding over the Japan Tokyo Mission. Between his own mission and his children’s, Bishop Budge’s family has served in nearly every mission in Japan.  

Bishop Budge’s business associations in Japan proved to be a miraculous help to the Church there. Though he had earlier considered a change of career, Bishop Budge followed the advice of a mentor who had told him, “We need people with integrity in business.”¹ As a result of Bishop Budge’s previous business experiences in Japan, he was able to open many doors for missionary work in the country.  

[1] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Bishop L. Todd Budge,” Liahona, November 2020.