Alumni LaDon Linde and Justin Oldroyd have always enjoyed a fast-paced work environment. Prior to their current positions, they both spent time at global strategy consulting firms, and Linde played a key role in a San Francisco-based tech company’s growth from twenty to two-hundred employees. Though their jobs were good, both men felt the need for something more—to use their knowledge and abilities for a work close to their hearts.
Justin Oldroyd, left, and LaDon Linde, right.
They found that something in consulting positions in the Office of the Presiding Bishopric for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“It really is my dream job,” Oldroyd says. “One of the things that I love most is being able to use my skills and my talents to work on projects that can help the church.”
The Office of the Presiding Bishopric oversees sixteen departments within the church. These departments cover such areas as meetinghouse maintenance, temple building, security, HR, communications, distribution, and supply chain. If a project is particularly large, encompasses multiple departments, or requires coordination with many teams, the Office of the Presiding Bishopric may provide additional support and resources.
“A typical day is very similar to what it was when I was at Bain & Company,” Oldroyd says. “It involves a lot of analysis and collaboration with various leaders and employees in order to answer challenging questions facing the organization.”
With their experiences from the Marriott School’s strategy program, both men use their knowledge to assist managing projects. For example, they have both worked on a global meetinghouse project with the goal to find the best process for providing adequate places of worship for members around the world. Linde says they are looking at an adaptation model to best facilitate the process of building and maintaining meetinghouses worldwide.
“We have a very broad and all-encompassing mission to bring souls to Christ from all different backgrounds, all different walks of life,” he says. “It is so broad and so complex that the issues we face as a church are inherently challenging. But it’s also what makes it very interesting and exciting.”
Both Linde and Oldroyd attribute part of their success to the strategy program at the Marriott School. Linde says the classes provided a foundation of information and the professors were always willing to help. He also says relationships and opportunities provided by the Marriott School were crucial. In fact, both Linde and Oldroyd benefited from the alumni database and were able to reach their current positions through connections they made.
“The church needs talent just like any other organization,” Oldroyd says. “There’s great opportunity for your skills to be used to build the kingdom, and to me that adds so much more than simply a paycheck.”