When John McKinney graduated with his MBA last August, he wasn’t the only member of his family walking across the stage. He was joined by his wife, April, who earned her BS in community health, and their son, Collin, who earned his MA in Spanish literature. Then, one week after their graduation, John and April began serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, working for the Perpetual Education Fund (PEF). President Gordon B. Hinckley announced the PEF in 2001. In a January 2004 Ensign article, Elder John K. Carmack says the PEF was designed to “provide loans to help worthy returned missionaries and other young Latter-day Saint adults gain the training and education necessary for adequate employment in their own countries.”
McKinney earned his BS in accountancy in 1979 and worked for an international accounting firm for five years after graduation. He then went on to work as a controller for Iomega, a chief financial officer for U.S. Rentals, and a vice president for United Rentals. It was only after he retired from United Rentals that he decided to earn an MBA. He and his wife moved from Modesto, California, to Provo in August 2001.
“On my mission I’m using a combination of what I learned in school with what I learned during my career and from my Church service,” McKinney says. “My wife and I are trying, in a small way, to help things move along here and are thoroughly enjoying the experience. ” McKinney, who is a member of the Marriott School’s National Advisory Council and was on the SOAIS advisory council, works with PEF’s director of finance doing various administrative and accounting projects. He and April will finish serving their mission in August 2005.
“The PEF is growing every day,” McKinney explains. “We process on average one thousand loan applications a month. There are a lot of dedicated volunteers here who have strong testimonies of the program’s value. It’s truly blessing thousands of lives; to date, more than 13,000 loans have been approved in eleven international areas of the Church.”
