Team

Modern Mormon Men Co-Founders

Seattle Jon
Seattle, Washington

Seattle Jon is a family man, little league coach, urban farmer and businessman living in Seattle. He currently gets up early with the markets to trade securitized products for a living. In his spare time he enjoys movies, thrifting and is an avid reader. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University and the Japan Fukuoka mission field. He has one wife, four kids and six chickens.

Scott Heffernan
Seattle, Washington
Twitter: @ScottHeffernan
Tumblr: ScottHeff.tumblr.com

Scott is an artist, designer, and photographer living in Seattle. He works on the creative team at Archie McPhee, doing all manner of strange things. He grew up a child of the 80s in Salt Lake City and loves skateboarding, toys, and thrifting. He served a mission in England/Wales and has a degree in American Sign Language from the University of Utah. He has one wife and two kids.

Modern Mormon Men Contributors

A-Dub
Portland, Oregon

Aaron currently lives in Portland, Oregon, but grew up in the Midwest. After a mission to Argentina and a degree from BYU, Aaron received an MBA from the University of Washington. Consequently, he is a data-driven corporate sellout who thinks the government should generally mind its own business. A lifelong Mormon and former counselor in a bishopric, Aaron feels that the eccentricities of Mormon culture should be made fun of as much as possible, that the main point of the gospel is to be like Christ and help others, and suspects that – whether openly or covertly – everyone likes Neil Diamond. He and his amazing wife have two boys.

Aimee
Seattle, Washington

Raised by a self-declared "Zen Mormon,” Aimee was exposed to a unique, open approach to mormonism. This allows her to easily relate to people of all different backgrounds. She will be contributing to Modern Mormon Men with her insights as a marriage and family therapist and has the great pleasure of writing on topics regarding mental and emotional health, parenting, couplehood, sexuality, and anything else she sees fit to share. Aimee served a mission in the beautiful countryside of Sendai, Japan. She graduated from Seattle Pacific University and practices in Redmond, Washington. She loves her (above-average) charming husband and son. Aimee is world renowned for her parallel parking skills and vertical leap. If you ever run into her, she will be happy to demonstrate either.

Andrew Beck
Provo, Utah
Twitter: @andrewcolinbeck
Portfolio Website: andrewcolinbeck.com

Andrew Beck, born 1986 in Pheonix, Arizona, is a Graphic Design Student at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He was raised smack dab in the middle of Provo Mormondom. His favorite calling so far is his current: nursery leader. After serving a mission in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Andrew married Ashley, his college sweetheart in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. They are expecting a healthy mormon baby.

Ben Johnson
Salt Lake City, Utah

Ben Johnson grew up in the heart of Mormon country, just outside of Salt Lake City. Given the unsophisticated nature of his palette ("what's a filet?") he was sent to Denver on his mission, where he grew to love even more types of cereal. Post-mission Ben broke his mother’s heart by attending and, *gasp*, graduating from the University of Utah with a degree in Finance. Whether he does anything with that degree is another matter. Determined to prove that the system works, Ben met his future wife Katti in a single’s ward. It was nothing like the movie. Ben currently lives just outside Salt Lake City with his beautiful wife and three wonderful kids.

Bishop Higgins
Provo, Utah
Twitter: @bishophiggins
Blog: bishophiggins.blogspot.com

Bishop Gerald Higgins is the bishop of the 3rd Ward and the first thing you should know is that Bishop Higgins loves Jesus. Also apple juice, marching bands and things that are soothing, like sunsets, the holy spirit, and hand lotion. Now, hasn't he met you before? Perhaps 2.5 million years ago in the pre-existence. It seems you've changed some since you've taken on this mortal coil. Remember how we could never wear hats in the pre-existence? Too windy.

Bradly Baird
West Jordan, Utah

Bradly Allen Baird is the father of two amazing children and has been married for almost twenty years. He served a mission in the Finland Helsinki Mission somewhere around the dawn of time. Having acquired an MBA and then subsequently throwing over his entire (and incredibly boring) professional(?) life to study biotechnology, network systems engineering, and computer engineering, he is finally finding his way as a modern mormon male.

brettmerritt
Provo, Utah
Twitter: @brettcmerritt

Born in Salt Lake City, Brett Merritt lived in twelve different homes and four different states by the time he was nineteen. He served his church mission in Alabama and is currently an average primary teacher. Brett has a B.S. in English and is a Content Editorial Director by day. A huge supporter of the performing arts, he spends his spare time writing, acting, improvising, and watching a lot of films. He lives in Provo, Utah where his brilliant wife and kids patiently watch as he tries to be a better Modern Mormon Man.

Brother Jake
Raleigh, North Carolina

Brother Jake is the caboose of a big Mormon family. He enjoys playing video games and making silly videos. After serving a mission in Peru, he married a violinist, transferred schools, and finished his undergrad at Indiana University. He is currently pursuing a Master's degree in analytics (a dumb word for "statistics") at NC State. He has extremely stretchy elbow skin.

Casey Peterson
Salem, Utah
Twitter: @cpeter1

Casey Peterson is the Director of the BYU Center for Service and Learning where he loves working with over 22,000 BYU students learning life lessons through service and volunteerism. Casey is completing his doctoral degree at BYU in Educational Leadership, which gives him the unique current status at BYU of being a student, teacher, and administrator. Casey is married with 5 beautiful children who stay busy through church, sports, and community activities along with their work on the small family farm they operate in Salem, Utah.

Clark
Laie, Hawaii
Twitter: @ClarkCahoon

Clark was born in Alberta, Canada but grew up his whole life in Newbury Park, California before serving a mission in Mississippi. He then went to BYU-Hawaii and earned a degree in Political Science with a certificate in Conflict Resolution and Intercultural Peacebuilding. Clark plays basketball as much as possible to re-live the good old high school days and enjoys bodysurfing and hiking. He is currently trying to figure out his next step after recently graduating, knowing more school is on the horizon but the priority at the moment is landing a legit job and starting to contribute to society.

Dustin
Houston, Texas

Dustin currently lives in Houston, Texas with his wife and four children. After serving a mission in Puerto Rico, he set the tone for a happy marriage by failing Dating and Marriage Prep at BYU-Idaho. He then showed why this happened, dragging his family around the nation with nine moves in seven years, all in the name of figuring out what to do with his life. He found his way into leadership development and now works at YES Prep Public Schools training teachers to be leaders and as a private consultant for businesses and non-profits. He especially enjoys helping people figure out their best-fit career and get into it and spits serious game on the topic at petersonleadership.com. He loves bacon, Dallas sports teams, and long walks on the beach. Email him at dustin (at) petersonleadership (dot) com.

Eliana
Yuma, Arizona

Eliana Osborn was raised on cold weather and wild animals in Anchorage, Alaska, setting the stage for her adult life in the Sunniest Place on Earth in Arizona. She grew up in the church and didn't know there were places where conformity was preached. She has a degrees. She writes. She teaches. She has some kids. She even has a husband. She's trying to do her best.

jpaul
Houston, Texas

After serving a mission in Venezuela, Jeff majored in Latin American Studies because he already had half the credits he needed (Spanish) to graduate and move on with life. After a two-year stint with Teach For America as a 4th grade teacher in Houston, an MBA degree from the University of Texas in Austin, and being currently employed by ExxonMobil in Houston again, he still keeps his Utah area code with hopes of returning someday. Jeff considers himself a “partrepreneur,” working full-time for the man and part-time trying several entrepreneurial endeavours.

ldsbishop
United Kingdom
Twitter: @ldsbishop

ldsbishop grew up in the land of Shakespeare, Milton and Monty Python. Looking for some culture, he moved to Utah for a while where he seduced his future wife with his accent. Just in case they ever wanted to break the Word of Wisdom, they needed to find somewhere to live where they could get a decent cup of tea, and so moved back to the UK. He was called as the bishop of his ward in his mid-twenties. That's where the similarities between him and President Monson end, mainly due to the lack of widows in his ward. He and his wife are the parents of two children, both stereotypical bishops kids. He keeps his sanity by tweeting his irreverent thoughts under @ldsbishop.

LJ
Charlottesville, Virginia
Twitter: @lauriestradling

Laurie Jayne (LJ) Stradling began her writing career with horrible grade-school poetry (the kind with illustrations in the margins). She has since moved onto blogging and the occasional piece of fiction, which has improved slightly since she gave up the illustrations. LJ is a quiet feminist, a loud mom, a well-kept wife and a fervent believer in prayer. She also believes that most dogs came to the earth after the Fall of Adam.

MAB
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

MAB has fond and therefore suspect memories of living his pre-teen years in rural Central Utah with his five brothers and one sister. As a teenager he moved with part of his family to the suburbs of Salt Lake City then left for a mission to Honduras. Having survived that he went to college in Rapid City then married an open minded Californian who helped put him through graduate school in Seattle. In the summer of 2011 his employer will relocate his family to Amsterdam, a move they are excited and anxious about. He considers himself a Mormon from a cultural standpoint but is philosophically agnostic. He attends church to support his family, to participate in familiar rituals and to enjoy the quirks and benefits of an LDS community.

Pete Codella
South Jordan, Utah
Twitter: @codella

I've lived in New York, Texas, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah. I've traveled to four continents, shopped in Fez, parasailed in Tunisia, eaten caviar in Moscow and would love to visit my namesake and great-grandfather's stomping grounds in Italy. I was married in the Salt Lake LDS Temple four years after graduating from BYU, so you could argue at one point I was a ‘menace to the community.’ I'm a former singing gondolier at The Venetian in Las Vegas and BYU Young Ambassador. I work in digital public relations and travel to consult and speak about corporate communications and social media. In May 2013 I graduate from the University of Utah's Executive MBA program, which culminates with a two-week trip to Berlin and Istanbul. Can't wait for the trip and to get my life back. My awesome wife and I have two great kids, currently eleven and seven, and full of life.

Saint Mark
Denver, Colorado

Mark is one of those oxymorons: a Mexican who speaks fluent Japanese, a bibliophile even though he did not grow up with a book, pen or paper in his home, and a mormon who grew up in the casino lights of Las Vegas. After becoming a modern-day Ammon in Kyushu, Japan, he returned to the States to become a lifelong student, literally. He has a bachelors from Brigham Young University, a masters from Georgetown University, and a juris doctor from Boston University School of Law. Mark is a husband of a wonderful woman who is done with Mark being a student, a father of two intelligent and rambunctious boys who beat him at chess and football, and an active participant in his ward and community. He identifies himself as someone who quickly tires of chit chat and wants to know "the five things you want to do before you die" when he first meets you.

Scott Hales
Fairfield, Ohio
Twitter: @TheLowTechWorld
Blog: low-techworld.blogspot.com

Scott lives in a small house in a suburb of Cincinnati with his wife and three daughters. He spends a lot of his time reading Mormon fiction and trying to come up with original things to say about it. On weekday mornings, he gets up at 4:40 to teach seminary. On weekday evenings, he and his wife watch network television and wonder what it must be like to have a satellite dish and 400 channels. During the daytime, he is a graduate student in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Cincinnati. He doesn't like pets or home repairs. He always likes to watch superhero cartoons with his kids. Sometimes he rides a mountain bike in the woods behind his neighborhood. When he's feeling particularly nostalgic, he'll pull out his masterfully written mission journals and remember the days when he didn't sport sideburns.

Shawn Tucker
Elon, North Carolina
Twitter: @MoTabEnquirer
Website: motabenquirer.blogspot.com

Shawn grew up with amazing parents and five younger, wonderful siblings. He served as a missionary in Chile during the Plebiscite and the first post-dictatorship election. After his mission, he attended BYU, where he married ... you guessed it ... his wife. They both graduated, with Shawn earning a BA in Humanities. Fearing that his BA in Humanities, which is essentially a degree in Jeopardy, would not be sufficient, Shawn completed graduate work in the same ... stuff ... at Florida State University. He currently teaches at Elon University in North Carolina. He and ... you guessed it ... his wife have four great children.